From Books to Towers: First Steps in Engineering
It's just another day in our preschool engineering center, with blocks scattered across the floor and children busy building their latest creations.
I notice Ayden sitting by herself, engrossed in one of the engineering books I keep in the center to inspire our young builders.
“What are you reading, Ayden?” I ask, sitting down next to her.
Ayden holds up the open book to show me the cover of Look at That Building! A First Book of Structures by Scot Ritchie. I can see her eyes moving back and forth as she continues to study the illustrations, trying to figure out how the skyscrapers, bridges, and tree houses featured in the book are engineered and constructed.
Ayden points at the tall towers in the book. “That one has a lot of beams that go straight up and down,” she says, tracing the building's vertical lines with her index finger. "And this is like the one we saw at the park," she adds, running her finger horizontally along the foundation of another illustrated structure. "It has that long flat piece on the bottom."
Clearly, Ayden is scrutinizing every detail in the illustrations. This is exactly what we hope to see in our young learners because the ability to sustain focus is essential for critical thinking and problem-solving.
Ayden's newfound interest in engineering gives me an idea.“What if we try to build a structure like one of the towers in the book?” I suggest.
“Nah, there’s not enough room for something that big," she responds. "My tower might hit somebody if it falls down.”
“Well, let’s move over to the table and make a tower with something besides blocks,” I say.
Ayden’s eyes light up. “What can I use for the beams?” she asks eagerly. “Can I use sticks?"
“Well, we don’t have enough sticks, but we do have these,” I answer, handing Ayden a bundle of brightly colored pipe cleaners as we head over to the table.
The simple act of handing these "building materials" to Ayden enables us to make a seamless transition from inspiration to hands-on learning.
I watch Ayden as she picks up the pipe cleaners and begins to bend and twist them into different shapes. All the while, she is experimenting with different ways to engineer a tall, structurally sound pipe-cleaner skyscraper.
Ayden is engaging in the engineering design process—a series of steps that engineers follow to solve a problem or create a product. In the early childhood classroom, this structured yet flexible approach can involve:
- Identifying a problem
- Imagining and planning a solution
- Building and testing a creation
- Sharing work with peers
Ayden’s playful tinkering also follows the design thinking process, a more human-centered approach that fosters creativity and empathy as children develop ideas to meet specific user needs. Design thinking also helps children develop more resilient mindsets and gives them the tools they will need to come up with innovative solutions to complex problems throughout their lives.
At this moment, Ayden is observing, imagining, and innovating. Her design goes through several iterations. The first tower topples over when she tries to make it too tall without adequate structural support. But rather than getting frustrated and giving up, she shifts into problem-solving mode.
“It fell down,” she observes, looking closely at the base of her tower. “Maybe it needs more at the bottom?”
“Great idea,” I say in an encouraging tone. “What do you think will make it stronger?”
Ayden thinks for a moment and then begins to twist more pipe cleaners together to stabilize the structure's base before adding height to her tower.
She is beginning to understand that balance and support are key to her tower’s success. This is an early engineering principle in action!
I love that Ayden doesn't see the failure of her first design as a setback. Instead, she sees it as an opportunity to improve her tower. She tests different ways of bending the pipe cleaners and adjusting the angles. Each time the structure wobbles or falls, she rethinks her approach and eventually engineers a functional design through trial and error.
As Ayden continues to refine and rebuild, I overhear her talking to herself: “If I make it bigger, it might fall down. But if I make it stronger, maybe it won't fall.”
This process—as Ayden thinks out loud, compares her tower to the illustrations in the book, and uses what she sees to refine her own design—is a beautiful example of a child-led engineering adventure inspired by a book in our classroom library.
As Ayden discovers during her foray into skyscraper design, the process of building isn’t just about putting things together. It’s about making decisions, learning from mistakes, and constantly improving.
She also learns that failure is an essential part of the creative process. This is one of the most important lessons that we can teach young children!
And the best part? All of this happens in the context of play, where the joy of creation is always at the heart of the learning process.
Ready for more early engineering adventures? Check out our Easy Pipe-Cleaner Tower Challenge lesson plan and see who can build the tallest freestanding tower with 15 pipe cleaners!