Build the Shapes Stem Activity with Marshmallows

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I love easy. Easy activities can be so powerful for kids, and yet such a relief for us Moms. Grab some marshmallows and toothpicks, its time to help your child learn the shapes and a little engineering at the same time, with this build the shapes stem activity. If you need to review the shapes a bit before you begin, try this easy masking tape shapes activity.

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You can get *any* mini marshmallows for this activity. You can grab the colored ones or the white ones, any brand, it doesn’t matter. More than likely, your kids are gonna eat a few marshmallows as they build, and that’s okay! It’s part of the fun that draws them in.

Setting Up the Activity

At our house, we have a “pay to play” approach for these kinds of tasty activities. You want to eat mini marshmallows, you have to cheerfully participate in whatever activity mom has planned.

So to set things up, you are going to put marshmallows in a bowl, toothpicks, and little shape flashcards, or the shapes from the printable in this post on the table. Think of the bowl of marshmallows as the control mechanism, if you don’t want your child to eat too many, don’t put too many in the bowl to start.

The Process for Building Shapes

Your goal is to have your child build the shapes using marshmallows and toothpicks. Some of the shapes are more complicated than others! As you can see, the finished shapes do not have to be scaled to each other. The star shape ends up being much larger than the other shapes.

For younger children, start simple with a square or triangle. Keep building shapes until your child gets frustrated. Younger children do not need to get everything perfect, especially little siblings along for the ride! They are learning through the process.

Challenge: 3D SHAPES

For older children, you can make more advanced shapes like a rhombus, trapezoid, star, etc. Once the shapes are mastered, have your learner experiment with making 3D shapes. To build 3D shapes, have the child start by building the base shape and place vertical toothpicks as shown.

Once you have this base structure built, your child will need a second copy of the shape to place on top. Of course, for a 3D triangle, you might have a square base, and then all the toothpicks are pulled into the middle to form a point. Let your child do all the thinking though. You issue the challenge, and then you let them struggle to think it through and figure it out. This process is so important for children!

Only step in to help if your child is really struggling to figure things out, to avoid getting to that point of frustration where meltdowns happen. Honestly, one of the best things you can do for your child is — let them do the work even when they have to struggle a bit.

It’s so hard for moms to take a step back and let them work things out on their own, (I know!) but it’s so valuable for children. In this case, after waiting and watching, the best “next step” to helping is to model the build. Make a square for your child and have him copy your steps. Then let him try the next shape again on his own.

Build Shapes with Lego Bricks is a great follow-up activity to do a couple days after you finish this one!

Materials for the Build the Shapes Stem Activity

• mini marshmallows
• toothpicks
• shapes
• Optional materials – printable

Directions for the Build the Shapes Stem Activity

1. Pour the mini marshmallows into a bowl and place the toothpicks and shapes onto the table.
2. Talk to your child about needing to be safe with the toothpicks due to their sharp ends.
3. Show your learner how to gently place a marshmallow onto a toothpick.  For younger learners, show them how you can place 2 toothpicks into a marshmallow to make a corner.
4. Have your child choose a shape and identify it.
5. For advanced learners you can ask further questions such as ‘How many sides does it have?’, ‘How many corners/vertices are there?’, ‘What is it’s 3D form called?’ etc
6. Ask your learner to try and build their chosen shape with the marshmallows and toothpicks.
7. If your learner is struggling to make the shapes you can first make one for them to copy, or use this handy printable for them to follow.
8. Once your child has completed the shape repeat steps 4-7 until they are all done with the activity.
9. For advanced learners, once they have made all the shapes, see if they can make a cube or a pyramid.