Toothpick structures are a fantastic, low-cost, and easy STEM challenge that keeps kids busy for hours. We used cocktail sticks, but you could also use straws or spaghetti.
I set the children a challenge to build a structure that would hold a chocolate egg off the ground.
Toothpick Tower STEM Challenge
Toothpick structure materials
- Toothpicks or cocktail sticks
- Plasticine
- Paper
- Chocolate eggs
How to build a toothpick structure
There are no instructions for this one, apart from building a structure that:
- Stands up with no extra support.
- Only use the materials above.
- Can hold a small chocolate egg without falling over.
Don’t be limited by our rules, you can make your own.
These are the structures my children built. What do you think?
We then tested whether our structures could hold chicks and rabbits. Since these were lighter, it wasn’t much of a problem.
Things to think about – building a strong toothpick structure
Shapes are a good thing to consider when building toothpick structures like this. We found a square shape with extra support in the form of triangles, which made a stronger structure.
Triangles, arches, and domes are all strong shapes used by engineers to make structures more stable. Next time you see a bridge, count how many different shapes you can see.
Imagine a square made from straws. If you push down, it will fold down on itself, but a triangle won’t collapse unless one of its sides breaks. Any force applied to a triangle is evenly distributed from the vertex to the base. This means triangles are much stronger than squares.
Free Toothpick Tower Activity Sheet
Use one of my FREE toothpick tower activity sheets to make this activity even easier!
Extension ideas
Can you build a tower that is at least 10cm high? Or 20 cm high?
How about a tower that can hold three chocolate eggs?
More Egg Science for Kids
Learn about strong shapes with paper columns.
Build a zip line to transport an Easter egg to a friend.
Or try one of our easy spring science experiments for kids.
What else could you use to stick the toothpicks to each other? How about mini marshmallows?
Last Updated on March 25, 2026 by Emma Vanstone
