Build a House With Natural Loose Parts

In this lesson, children will design, draw and build houses with natural loose parts.

This lesson will help children meet the following educational standards:

Develop beginning skills in the use of science and engineering practices such as observing, asking questions, solving problems, and drawing conclusions
Understand important connections and concepts in engineering

After this lesson, children should be more proficient at:

Expressing wonder and curiosity about their world by asking questions, solving problems and designing things
Developing and using models to represent their ideas, observations and explanations through approaches such as drawing, building or modeling with clay

Natural building materials (leaves, rocks, sticks, twigs, etc.)
Paper
Pencils
String, tape, twine, wire, or other materials that the children will need to assemble materials found in nature

In a large-group discussion, ask the children if they have ever built with materials found in nature. Ask them to share these experiences with the group.
After the children have shared their experiences, explain that they will be going on a walk to collect natural materials to build a house.
During the walk, encourage the children to collect as many natural materials as possible so that every child has enough found treasures to build a house.
While collecting materials, discuss their characteristics (e.g., sticks may be smooth or textured).

When you return to the classroom, gather the children in small groups and invite them to design and draw what they want to build.
Ask the children to think about the materials they want to use and incorporate these materials into their drawings.
After the children draw what they want to build, invite them to start building with the materials that they collected on their walk (sticks, leaves, rocks, etc.).
As the children build, ask if their houses look like their original designs. If not, why did they choose to build them differently?
Observe any challenges that the children encounter while they build. Ask questions such as: “Do you think you need something to help you connect or stack your building materials? What do you think will help you do that?”
Place a basket filled with string, twine, tape, wire, or other materials in your Discovery Area and encourage the children to use these materials to assemble their natural materials into houses.
When the children are done building, encourage them to discuss their building processes Ask: "How was it the same or different from building with blocks or LEGO bricks? Did the characteristics of the materials affect your building process? If yes, how?"
Encourage the children to present their built designs to the class.

Characteristic: A feature or attribute of an object
Collect: To gather a group of things together for observation or study
Conclude: To make statements about what was learned after an observation or experiment
Design: To create a plan for something that will be built
Test: To try out an idea to see if it works or not

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty
Stick by Irene Dickson
The Hike by Alison Farrell
What’s In Your Pocket? Collecting Nature’s Treasures by Heather L. Montgomery

Engineering Explorers