7 Engineering Challenges for Kids Using Plus-Plus
The future engineers of our world aren’t just created with college classes and complex lab equipment. Hands-on building challenges can help nurture STEM thinkers and get those creative (and literal) wheels turning at early ages.
With stimulating colors, stabilizing baseplates, and an uncomplicated shape, Plus-Plus pieces and sets are designed to support exactly that kind of budding ingenuity. The single hashtag shape allows kids to start experimenting, problem-solving, and testing their own ideas using consistent materials that create everything from 2D patterns to complex 3D structures.
In this blog, we’ll explore seven engineering challenges for a playtime packed with STEM learning and creative discovery.
Why Plus-Plus is the perfect toy for STEM engineering
As little hands stack and connect Plus-Plus pieces, they start absorbing early engineering concepts like gravity, symmetry, and spatial reasoning. The single interlocking shape avoids the overwhelming feeling that comes from too much design variation, and instead encourages calm creativity and problem-solving.
Plus-Plus is the ultimate STEM toy because it’s:
- Intuitive to use: Plus-Plus pieces connect easily, so kids can just start building without rules or instruction books.
- Designed for all ages: Plus-Plus comes in both standard and BIG sizes for everyone from preschoolers to teens (and kidults, too!)
- Adaptable and customizable: Unlike kits that require specific pieces for certain builds, Plus-Plus lets kids swap colors and switch up their designs with ease.
- Multi-dimensional: Kids can build 2D mosaics, patterns, letters, numbers, and geometric designs, or bring 3D structures and figures to life.
- Made for open-ended play: Learning and discovery doesn’t stop once a design is complete. Plus-Plus pieces are easy to pull apart, reuse, and turn into almost anything you can imagine, unlocking hours of independent play.
7 Plus-Plus engineering challenges for kids
At home or in the classroom, you can leverage the simplicity of Plus-Plus to open up a world of technical skills. Looking for a way to encourage critical thinking in your kids? These seven engineering challenges help build the set of mental tools that kids need to see the possibilities around them.
1. Customize your own robots
The colors and blocky shapes of Plus-Plus pieces can inspire kids to design radical robots and futuristic friends straight out of a sci-fi movie. Start with the Learn to Build - Robots set, complete with a handy instructions booklet for engineering wacky automatons. Then let kids go rogue as they mix and match arms, legs, and bodies to create androids all their own.
Skills and concepts learned:
- Structural design
- Stability and balance
- Spatial and artistic design
What you can use:
2. Build colorful cars
Ready, set…and build GO! Vehicles with Plus-Plus kits that are raring to hit the racetrack. From candy-colored cars to hitched trailers, kids have their pick of automobiles to engineer. If you don’t have a GO! set on hand, kids can pair their favorite Plus-Plus kit with an Accessory Pack of wheels and hubs to turn any creation into a road-ready design. A full-size flower shop or ice cream shop on racecar wheels? Yes, please.
Skills and concepts learned:
- Motion and force
- Surface friction
- Weight distribution
- Structural alignment and symmetry
What you can use:
3. Design helpful stands for everyday items
Whether kids want to prop up their tablet, make a toothbrush holder, or craft a chair for their favorite action figure, this challenge is all about using creativity and design thinking to solve everyday problems and improve their surroundings. Kids can test out the stability of different structures and take measurements to make sure their design solves the problem.
Skills and concepts learned:
- Problem-solving design solutions
- Structural stability
- Measurement and size estimation
What you can use:
4. Craft a working catapult
Manufacture miniature catapults to fling little projectiles—safely, of course—and see whose creation has the farthest reach or can hit a certain target. It’s the perfect activity to help kids experiment with more complex engineering concepts, enjoy some friendly competition, and launch their way through STEM learning.
Skills and concepts learned:
- Physics fundamentals
- Force and motion
- Lever mechanics
What you can use:
5. Set up and topple a domino run
There aren’t many games more potentially rewarding and frustrating than a good ol’ domino run. Set up as many colorful Plus-Plus BIG pieces as you wish and send them snaking across furniture or through different rooms. Once they’re perfectly placed, kids can enjoy the satisfaction of watching them fall down in succession—or learn from the disappointment of a weak link.
Skills and concepts learned:
- Fine motor skills
- Cause and effect
- Patience and concentration
- Spatial strategy
What you can use:
6. Design a bowling game
You don’t need a heavy ball or rented shoes to enjoy the art of bowling. Invite kids to engineer their own tabletop or living-room floor game with Plus-Plus pieces. Start by up BIG pieces in rows and building little spinning tops or wheeled objects to knock them down.
Skills and concepts learned:
- Motion and momentum
- Aim and direction
- Game design
- Force and impact
What you can use:
7. Create a marble maze
Craft a colorful, winding maze that guides a marble from start to finish. Kids can fill their mazes with zigzagging pathways, sharp turns, and ramps, and then test their designs—or challenge you to try it out!—and see if the marble makes it all the way through.
Skills and concepts learned:
- Gravity and motion
- Angles and slope
- Structural design
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Cause and effect
What you can use:
Empower future engineers with Plus-Plus
The best engineering challenges encourage kids to think creatively, solve problems on their own, and learn through playful experimentation. Every tower that topples or robot that comes to life develops valuable skills that can last a lifetime.
Kids often just need the right toys and encouragement to get started, and that's where Plus-Plus can help. With one simple shape and endless possibilities, kids can explore real STEM concepts as they discover new passions and push the limits of their imaginations. Plus-Plus pieces are also easy to mix, match, and reuse, whether kids are pulling inspiration from a guidebook and or dreaming up their own colorful designs from scratch.
Ready to nurture the budding engineers in your home or classroom? Explore all STEM Plus-Plus toys for hands-on learning.