Build a Da Vinci Bridge with Your Kids

My daughter’s school has a tinkering lab where the kids get to go to do STEM stuff, build things and work on projects.

Recently one of the classes made a giant Da Vinci bridge, a self-supporting bridge design developed by Leonardo Da Vinci around 1486.

Their version was made with large pieces of wood and stands several feet high, but if you’d like to make a smaller-scale version, check out this tutorial from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls.

Her version is made with craft sticks, and you do have to glue them together in advance to make pieces that are long enough to build the bridge from, but other than that the bridge can be put together without adhesives, and it makes a really strong structure, too.

This is a great engineering project for kids, and you could give them the materials and see if they can figure out how to make a bridge out of them before showing them how Da Vinci did it. You can also test your bridge to see how much weight it holds, and talk about why such a bridge might be useful (the original application was meant to be for use in war, so the army could build a bridge, cross it with their supplies and take it down easily so the enemy couldn’t follow).

Have you ever made a Da Vinci bridge? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls.]

Lots of Americans seem to think that May 5 is Mexican Independence Day, but that holiday actually falls on Sept. 16.

May 5 is the celebration of the Battle of Puebla, in which the Mexicans defeated the French in 1862. Independence Day marks the beginning of their fight for independence from Spain in 1810. That was the day of what’s known as El Grito de Dolores, or the cry of Dolores, for when the Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang the church bells at his church in Dolores and declared that Mexico should be free from Spanish rule.

They would fight for their freedom until 1821 when they finally gained independence.

Fabulous Classroom has a little of the history and ideas for celebrating the holiday for all age groups. There’s also a link to a good video in that post about the real story of Mexican Independence Day.

Twinkl also has a good tops about the history and different activities, discussion ideas, crafts and foods that can be incorporated into lessons at school or used at home.

I also found a few pins that no longer link to a website but include good information on Mexican Independence Day, including some questions for students to answer based on the reading. You can find more printables and questions for kids from TX Homeschool Mama on Etsy (also available in Spanish).

You can find a lot more paid resources about Mexican Independence Day at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Mexican flag crafts are a fun option for celebrating Mexican Independence Day (though the current iteration of their flag has only been in use since 1968). Kids Activities Blog has a free Mexican flag printable and a few different ideas for decorating it including dot markers and torn tissue paper.

You can also find some great Mexican crafts at Red Ted Art. The post includes all sorts of Mexican inspired projects including Day of the Dead crafts, Frida Kahlo pinatas and upcycled musical instruments. I love the giant paper flowers they shared from Honestly WTF.

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