Build It
Investigate and explore construction and building using the engineering process.
The Big Idea: Engineering and creating as an architect involves a multi-step process including specific tools, equipment, materials, and math sense. These concepts help us discover and explore the transformation of our space and surroundings.
Appropriate for K – 3
VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP VIDEO RENTAL: You will have 2-week access to a playlist of videos, and you can break up our instructional and educational videos however you please. Videos may be shown or streamed only to classrooms at one school or site only.
- Four recorded activities
- Join a virtual City Scavenger Hunt.
- Construct and explore with our DIY paper blocks.
- Use paper scraps and cardboard or paper bags to build cityscapes.
- Learn how blueprints are used to follow designs and create structures.
- Two recorded informational videos
- Behind the scenes footage of the tools used in Kohl Children’s Museum’s exhibit workshop.
- Explore how an excavator works on an actual construction site!
- One recorded story time
- Activity instructions provided in English and Spanish to support learning at school and at home
SUPPLY KITS: Why waste time and money collecting supplies? We’ll ship 30 individual kits of supplies to one location with materials needed for three of the recorded activities.
LIVE SESSION: Includes a 20-minute live presentation for one classroom from a Museum educator with an activity exploring engineering concepts by building with Strawbees. How can we build the sturdiest structure with our materials?
Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards
1.A.ECa Follow simple one-, two- and three-step directions.
2.C.ECa Interact with a variety of types of texts (e.g. storybooks, poems, rhymes, songs.)
5.A.ECa Experiment with writing tools and materials.
7.A.ECa Compare, order, and describe objects according to a single attribute.
8.A.ECa Sort, order, compare, and describe objects according to characteristics or attributes.
9.A.ECa Recognize and name common two- and three-dimensional shapes and describe some of their attributes (e.g. number of sides, straight or curved lines)
9.A.ECb Sort collections of two- and three-dimensional shapes by type (e.g. triangles, rectangles, circles, cubes, spheres, pyramids)
9.A.ECc Identify and name some of the faces (flat sides) of common three-dimensional shapes using two-dimensional shape names.
9.A.ECd Combine two-dimensional shapes to create new shapes.
9.A.ECe Think about/imagine how altering the spatial orientation of a shape will change how it looks (e.g. turning it upside down).
11.A.ECa Express wonder and curiosity about their world by asking questions, solving problems and designing things.
11.A.ECb Develop and use models to represent their ideas, observations, and explanations through approaches such as drawing, building, or modeling with clay.
11.A.ECc Plan and carry out simple investigations.
11.A.ECe Use mathematical and computational thinking.
11.A.ECf Make meaning from experience and information by describing, talking, and thinking about what happened during an investigation.
11.A.ECg Generate explanations and communicate ideas and/or conclusions about their investigations.
15.A.ECa Describe some common jobs and what is needed to perform those jobs.
19.A.ECa Engage in active play using gross- and fine-motor skills.
19.A.ECd Use eye-hand coordination to perform tasks.
25.A.ECd Visual Arts: Investigate and participate in activities using visual arts materials.
Common Core Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY. CCRA.R.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.2 With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including details.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP.1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP.4 Model with mathematics.
Next Generation Science Standards
NGSS-K-2-ETS-1 Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of new or improved object or tool.
NGSS-K-2ETS1-3 Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to sole the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.