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Lego Building Ideas and Challenges for Summer

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I love a good Lego challenge, where you set kids out to try to build something with Legos. It’s fun to see what they come up with on their own, but of course there are a lot of great instructions out there for building various things with Legos. You can do it either way: give them the instructions and let them build that way, or ask if they can come up with something on their own before you give them the instructions.

One great thing about Lego challenges is that they become engineering projects even if you are following directions. So it’s a super fun learning activity kids might not even register as being educational.

Here are a few Lego builds that caught my eye recently.

Little Bins for Little Hands has a fun Lego zipline challenge. This is one kids can build on their own and then see how different ways of building an enclosure for a mini figure affect how fast the contraption zips.

Or you can learn how to tell time with a sundial by making a Lego sundial with this idea from Mom Brite. If you leave it outside undisturbed you can actually use it to tell time!

Frugal Fun 4 Boys and Girls has so many great Lego ideas it’s hard to narrow it down, but here are a couple of my favorites. Making catapults is a STEM classic, and this post shows two different ways to make a catapult out of Legos.

But the coolest one I found is this Lego air hockey table! This mini table is a fun challenge because while it would be pretty simple to put together you might have to hunt around for the right kinds of bricks to make it work. But I would definitely want to play with this one.

Do you have a favorite Lego building challenge you’ve done with your kids? I’d love to hear about it!

How to Build a Lego Night Light

Disaster Island Lego Building Challenge

Lego All About Me Printable

Lego Mats for Winter

LEGO Snowflake Building Challenge

Make a Chess Board out of Legos

 

Have you read?

Crafts to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 each year (because it celebrates the time period when several countries gained their independence) and it’s a great time to bring in some Hispanic inspired crafts and foods. For an overview on the celebration, the difference between Hispanic and Latino and the importance of the holiday, as well as a look at Latino art and famous Latinos and Latinas, check out this post and related information from the National Museum of the American Latino.

Spanish Playground has a great collection of craft ideas that you can do in Spanish class or with kids in any class or at home. It includes things like weaving, making mola (folk art from Panama; learn more at Kid World Citizen), doing an artist study of a Hispanic artist and more.  

Crafty Chica has a great collection of crafts, coloring pages and printables for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with kids. I love this coloring page inspired by Amante bark painting, but there are also folk art stamps, corn husk dolls, tile painting ideas and more. 

Papel picado is a classic folk art from Mexico that will feel familiar if you’ve ever made a paper snowflake. Learn how to make them from tissue paper with this video from Hispanic Society Museum and Library. 

Learn more about Hispanic Heritage Month, get recipes and crafts from PBS Kids. I love this Peruvian siku flute, which can be made with old markers or paper straws.

While not exactly a craft, playing loteria (a Spanish language bingo game) is a fun thing to do with a group of kids. Free Kids Crafts has printable bingo cards with basic Spanish vocabulary and images for people who don’t already know these words. 

And if you need a little snack when you’re done crafting, try these no bake mini tres leches cakes from Inspired by Family. They’re made with purchased pound cake so they’re pretty fast and easy. 

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