• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Menu
  • Science Experiments For Kids
  • Science Fair Projects
  • Preschool Science
  • Science Facts
  • Printable Experiments
  • Science Sparks Books
  • Science Questions
  • Contact Me
Science Experiments for Kids
Menu
  • STEM Challenges
  • Early Years Science
    • Preschool Science
    • Sensory and Messy Play
    • Understanding of the World
    • Pirate Science Experiments
  • Primary Science
    • Baking Soda Experiments
    • Candy Experiments
    • Biology for Kids
    • Climate Change for Kids
    • Coding for Kids
    • Chemistry for kids
    • Electricity for Kids
    • Magic Science Experiments
    • Harry Potter Experiments
    • Human Body Science
    • Air Pressure Experiments
    • Life Cycles
    • LEGO Science Experiments
    • Kitchen Science
    • Famous Scientists
    • Forces and Motion
    • Science Sparks Snippets
    • Key Stage 1 Science
      • Animals
      • Everyday Materials
      • Plants
      • Coding Activities
      • Humans and Health
      • Fine Motor skills
      • Science and Literacy
    • Key Stage 2 Science
      • Animals, Including Humans
      • Electricity
      • Light
      • Plants
      • Materials and their Properties
  • Key Stage 3
  • Holiday Science
    • Christmas Science
    • Halloween Science
    • Easter Science
  • Storybook Themed Science Experiments
  • Wonderful Women in STEM
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • FREE Experiments
  • Science for Kids
    • Kitchen Science
    • Climate Change
    • Egg Experiments
    • Fairy Tale Science
    • Edible Science
    • Human Health
    • Chemistry
    • Inspirational Women
    • Forces and Motion
  • Science Fair Projects
  • STEM Challenges
  • Science Sparks Books
  • Contact Science Sparks
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Easter Toothpick Structures

    Easter Toothpick Structures

    April 6, 2022 By Emma Vanstone Leave a Comment

    Toothpick structures are a fantastic, low cost and easy STEM challenge that can keep kids busy for hours. We actually 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 towers STEM challenge. Image of towers built with toothpicks and plasticine as part of an Easter STEM Challenge.

    Toothpick structure materials

    Toothpicks or cocktail sticks

    Plasticine

    Paper

    Chocolate eggs

    How to build a toothpick structure

    There’s no instructions for this one, apart from the building a structure that:

    • Stands up with no extra support.
    • Only uses the materials above.
    • Can hold a small chocolate egg without falling over.

    These are the structures my children built, what do you think?

    STEM Challenge - toothpick Structures
    toothpick structures with chocolate eggs on top for a fun Easter STEM Challenge

    We then tested to see if our structures could also hold chicks and rabbits, these were lighter so it wasn’t much of a problem.

    STEM Challenge - toothpick Structures

    Things to think about – building a strong toothpick structure

    Shapes are a good thing to think about when building toothpick structures like this. We found a square shape with extra support in the form of triangles made a stronger structure.

    Triangles, arches and domes are all strong shapes and are used by engineers to make structures strong. 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 with fold down on itself, but a triangle won’t collapse unless one of its sides break. Any force applied to a triangle  is evenly distributed from the vertex to the base, this means triangles are much stronger than squares.

    Extension ideas

    Can you build a tower that is at least 10cm high? Or 20 cm high?

    How about a tower that can hold 3 chocolate eggs?

    Can you build the chicks a new house? We used blueberries for this one.

    toothpick chick house

    More 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?

    Build towers with toothpicks and plasticine strong enough to support a chocolate egg. Easy Easter STEM Challenge for kids

    Last Updated on April 6, 2022 by Emma Vanstone

    « Investigating the effect of increasing temperatures on transpiration
    What is sublimation? »

    Safety Notice

    Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

    These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Primary Sidebar

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    What are you looking for?

    JOIN US!

    Get new experiments straight into your inbox every week!!

    Thank you!

    You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

    .

    Copyright © 2022 Science Experiments for Kids on the Foodie Pro Theme