Straws are not only for drinking. They’re also a light and easy material for building structures at home with your kids. I was testing pipe cleaners and other stuff for the connections, when I took a close look at the plastic straws you can bend. I was putting them together to make triangles and squares without using additional materials … and then I got an idea! I’ll show you now how I use them for making structures, letters, and even a crazy cube.

What You Need

• Flexible plastic straws

That’s all you need. Really!

Prepare

Take 2 straws. Squeeze the short end of one straw flat and push it inside the long end of the second straw. Then push the same short end of the second straw inside the long end of the first.

They remind me of violin bows… Best to make a lot of them first.

You can easily make triangles with 3 straws.

Simple 2D Structures

Put some bows over a triangle. Let the kids try out different angles. You can easily make a mobile with 3 triangles.

Make some letters with the straws. A and B are easy, now C…

Simple 3D Structures

Make a pyramid with 2 triangles and one bow… The crazy cube:

You need 12 bows for the cube.

Take 2 bows. Open the ends up and put them through a third bow and close them again. Add more bows to the ends until you’ve got a cube. Second Method: Make 2 squares and but them together with 4 bows. You may need to adjust the joins. Best to help the younger kids with this step.

Ready To Play

The cube is flexible and can be bent and formed in many ways and then put back as a cube.

All that building has made me thirsty. Let’s have a drink. Luckily, there is a straw left. My son and I did have a great time playing with the straws and we are planning to try out more structures. We put them in a bag and they are ready for another round… Have fun with this easy building craft!