Blocks
Magna-Tiles
32 Autumn Magnetic Tile Ideas
Build these easy magnetic tile ideas while celebrating autumn and autumn holidays—Halloween, Thanksgiving, Moon Festival, Día de Muertos, and others! Some toys seem to have endless potential for play. Magnetic tiles have been an example of such a toy in our household....
300 Creative Magna Tile Ideas
Looking for Magna Tile ideas for kids to build? Choose one of 320+ printable Magna Tile cards and build away! There are letters, numbers, geometric shapes, 2D/3D creative designs, animals, and seasonal ideas. The sad truth of parenthood is most toys eventually fall...
Magnetic Tile Earth Puzzle for Kids
Explore our globe in greater detail by making a magnetic tile Earth with printable stickers. A great activity for Earth Day - or any time you want to study geography with kids! Magnetic tiles have surprising versatility as an educational toy. We've used them for so...
Spring Magnetic Tile Ideas
Build these seasonal magnetic tile ideas while celebrating the spring season and its holidays - Easter, Earth Day, St. Patrick's Day, Mother's Day, and others. Spring is a season of rebirth and rejuvenation. Children's relationships with their toys can be seasonal...
Animal Magna-Tile Idea Cards
Combine the study of animals with engineering by using these printable magna tile idea cards and inspiring young builders to create 40 animal designs from magnetic tiles! In order to make a connection with a new topic of study, it sometimes helps to tie it in with an...
200 Printable Magna Tiles Designs
Looking for new Magna Tiles designs to build? Here are our favourite Magna Tiles ideas to make, with printable cards for inspiration. No matter how exciting and desirable initially, even the best toys tend to fall out of favour. Take LEGO, for example! A great toy,...
Magna Tiles Matching Game
Practice colour, shape and pattern recognition with this simple Magna Tile matching game you can make with magnetic building tiles! Don't you like it when kids invent their own educational games? It is a moment of perfect parental pride and satisfaction! The other...
Magnetic Tiles Number Challenge Cards
A great addition to a math corner for preschool and kindergarten, these printable cards encourage kids to make numbers from Magna-Tiles, Picasso Tiles, and other magnetic tiles. Also check: Magnetic Tiles Uppercase Alphabet, Magnetic Tiles Lowercase Alphabet, Magnetic...
Magna-Tiles Uppercase Alphabet Printable Cards
A great addition to your literacy corner, these printable cards encourage kids to make letters with Magna-Tiles, Picasso Tiles, and other magnetic tiles. It is a fun hands-on way to teach the alphabet to preschoolers and kindergartners who like building. Also check:...
Lego
70 Lego Building Challenges with Printable Cards
70 free printable Lego building challenges will make a great addition to any young builder's workstation! A few weeks ago, we watched "Lego Masters". If you haven't heard of it before, it's a TV series that features a bunch of competitions in Lego building. Each...
LEGO Animals Instructions
Use LEGO animals instructions to build twenty animals from all around the world and their habitats! LEGO must really be one of the most amazing toys ever invented. It allows children to explore any concept in a hands-on way! When my children learned letters, we made...
Animal Habitat Project
Complete animal habitat projects with LEGO bricks. With our printable pack, you can study eight principle biomes, design them and play with them! From a cute arctic fox prowling the Arctic tundra to a mighty elephant lumbering over the African savanna, this pack...
LEGO Duplo Alphabet Mats
Build the alphabet with Duplo bricks, using these printable Lego Duplo Alphabet Mats with uppercase and lowercase letter designs! Also check: Lego 3D AlphabetLego 2D AlphabetPattern Block AlphabetMagna-Tiles Alphabet Before my son was old enough to dedicate the living...
LEGO Alphabet
Use these printable LEGO alphabet mats to combine early literacy with STEM and teach letters in a playful hands-on way! Everything is a little more fun with LEGO! That’s why we try to include the blocks into as many of our learning activities as we can. The kids love...
LEGO Letters Printable
Teach your children the alphabet in a playful hands-on way by making Lego letters! Also check: Lego 3D AlphabetLego Duplo AlphabetPattern Block AlphabetMagna-Tiles Alphabet About LEGO Letters If you have a LEGO lover around, you know that everything is a little more...
LEGO Charades | LEGO Pictionary | LEGO Creationary: Free Printable Game
If you are planning a LEGO birthday party or simply like LEGO and playing games as a family, try this LEGO twist on the popular games of Charades or Pictionary! I love playing board games, but my son decidedly prefers LEGO. Then, one time, someone in the gaming...
Lego Duplo Animals and Alphabet
Build Lego Duplo animals while learning the alphabet! Included are 26 free printable cards with animal and letter designs. My son was not among the natural early readers. He never worried about mastering his letters, as long as there were things to tinker with and his...
12 Spring Lego Projects for Easter Egg Hunt or Basket
A couple of days ago, I wrote about the LEGO Easter eggs we made to fill with small LEGO surprises for our Easter egg hunt. I haven't mentioned that in this case the chickens came before eggs - that is, we planned our LEGO surprises first. We have been working on the...
Lego Doodle Cars
We hear a lot about cars around our place... we draw them, we build them, we read about them, and we trip over them! Vehicles have been Budster's immutable passion for about a year, and we begin to wonder if he will ever tire of them. He delights that there...
Pattern Blocks
50 Animal Pattern Block Mats
These 50 animal pattern block designs are perfect for STEM centres in your preschool or kindergarten! Children will learn the names of animals, practice building skills and math – all at once. Many classrooms, homeschool or traditional, have pattern blocks. These...
Birds: Free Pattern Block Designs
Get the free printable pack of bird pattern block designs for STEM centres in your preschool and kindergarten! Children will learn the names of birds, practice building skills and math - all at once. In most classrooms, whether homeschool or traditional, pattern...
Easter & Spring Pattern Block Design Templates
Get the free printable pack of Easter and spring pattern block designs for STEM centers in your preschool and kindergarten! Pattern blocks are far from being new in most classrooms, but they were a recent discovery for us. Even though we already have a lot of building...
Pattern Block Alphabet: Printable Challenge Cards
Combine early literacy with STEM and teach the alphabet in a playful hands-on way with these printable pattern block cards! Also check: Lego 3D AlphabetLego 2D AlphabetLego Duplo AlphabetMagna-Tiles Alphabet One of the latest additions to our classroom are these...
Other Engineering Projects
Free Printable Dollhouse Template
Learn how to make a cardboard or paper dollhouse with this free printable dollhouse template! We all know that cardboard boxes rank high in the realm of toy potential. They can be turned into cars, boats, airplanes, robot helmets, or dollhouses - more or less...
Medieval Shadow Puppets with Moving Parts
Learn how to make shadow puppets with moving parts and have playful shadow puppet duels with these articulated knight puppets! We love shadow puppets! Over the years, we have created many different shadow puppet templates. Some have been fairy-tales, others have...
DIY Steampunk Wooden Robots
Introduce kids to woodworking by challenging them to create these whimsical steampunk wooden robots - from wood, screws and metal scraps! There is a certain appeal to a pile of loose hardware, wouldn't you say? All those nuts, bolts and little metal scraps seem so...
How to Make Simple Articulated Robots with Kids
Build a simple articulated wooden robot! It is a great engineering project to teach kids how articulation works and a perfect woodworking project for beginners. My kids have a lot of toys. When I've just tripped over one, I tend to think they have too many....
Pumpkin House: Engineering Project for Kids
Learn the tips and tricks of how to build a pumpkin house for an autumn STEM project with kids! If I learned something from my son, who loves building, it would be this - anything can be used for engineering constructions! I still remember him vividly at...
How to Make a Castle from Cardboard
Learn how to make a castle from cardboard, paper rolls and other recyclables! Chances are, you have a lot of packing tubes, paper towel and wrapping paper rolls, potato chip or nut containers in your recycling bin. We sure did. At least, until we decided to make...
How to Make a Windmill Model with a Printable Pattern
Make a windmill model at home and hold an engineering study with children! With a printable template, building your own toy windmill is a quick and easy STEM activity. Windmills are fascinating machines, both aesthetically and technologically. For centuries, they...
Backyard Railroad Engineering: Outdoor STEM Challenge for Kids
Like many kids, my son likes everything on wheels. Cars, construction machinery, emergency vehicles, trains. Especially trains. He also loves playing in the backyard, and for several summer now, I've been thinking how much fun it would be to build a railroad outside....
How to Make a Bean Teepee for Backyard Play
If you're looking for a kids' gardening project this summer, try building a bean teepee. This natural play tent is a fun addition to the backyard and a perfect hideout for little explorers. Last summer was our first as home owners, and we were as excited about...
DIY Foam Glider Airplane with Printable Pattern & Design
Do your kids like foam glider airplanes? Craft a DIY version together at home! With a printable pattern, it's very easy. In my opinion, foam airplanes are on par with balloons for kids. Both are simple, but bring exuberant amount of fun to kids. Never last long...
DIY Layer Blocks for Building Doll Houses and Ramps
If your kids are into STEM activities and building, these wooden layer blocks will add a new dimension to their wooden block play and allow them to build multi-leveled doll houses, garages and towers! A few years ago, when we first started playing with wooden building...
Scrap Robots: STEM Challenge
Put together a tinkering box with odd hardware pieces and scrap metal, add a set of magnets and have STEAM building fun with kids, creating quirky steampunk robots and machines. Building! Robots! With magnets! Each of these words must sound like a song to my son....
Woodscrew Art: Introducing Kids to Screwdriving Tools
At three months old, Anselm preferred his wooden hammer over his other toys. By twelve months, he had acquired five different hammers, and he has loved tools ever since. Whenever Jeffrey was fixing something around the house, Budster could be seen squatting next to...
Watermelon Ship: Summer Engineering Project
In the midst of the summer, there are few things that are better than a sweet succulent watermelon. And not only as a snack! Some make watermelons into a keg, and some carve it into a piece of art. We decided to make our watermelon into a ship. Well, after eating...
DIY Balloon-Powered Wooden Toy Boat
Boats hold a special romantic appeal, for kids as well as grown-ups. Add to this a little scientific experiment, and we have a winner - a balloon-powered boat! In this post, you'll find a tutorial on how we made one. If you want to get one quickly, you can also get it...
DIY Simple Wooden Toy Boat: Woodworking for Kids
Looking for a toy project that a kid can make, then give to a sibling or a friend as gift? Or the first woodworking project to make with dad? Here is our idea on how to make a simple wooden toy boat from a scrap of wood. This post contains Amazon affiliate links for...
How to Build a Cardboard Spaceship
Moving into a new house was certainly an adventure, whether finding our way through the labyrinth of unpacked things or discovering that our bedroom was a nice spot for watching sunsets. You get lots of those in the land of living skies Saskatchewan! Our son also...
DIY Wood Robot Toy
Do you want to make a wood robot toy? Or maybe looking for the first woodworking project for kids? Try this one! One morning, while our son was still sleeping, a surprise guest climbed onto his windowsill... "Wake up, Buddy! Look who's here!" The previous day, our son...
Make-a-Monster Blocks
Wooden building blocks are a classic toy for open-ended play. So I try not to be too hard on myself for picking up yet another set for my kid whenever I see a good deal at a second-hand toy store or dollar store. When I have a pretty good assortment, I can turn them...