Build a Toothpick Bridge

Is your child's inner architect itching to get out and build? Now she can design and construct her own toothpick bridge with a simple household items and a little mathematical magic. This craft will put both her artistic and scientific skills to the test, and make a great addition to the toybox. If she's not too attached to it, she can even test how strong the toothpick bridge is, by placing weights on it.

What You Need:

• Box of toothpicks
• Hot glue gun
• Glue stick
• Wax paper

What You Do:

1. Have your child lay a piece of wax paper on a flat surface for an easy-to-clean workspace.
2. Now have her place four toothpicks down in a square.
3. Put a fifth toothpick in the center of the square, creating two rectangles.
4. Put two more toothpicks at a diagonal in each rectangle to create two Xs.
5. Glue all the parts together, making sure each join is glued down and secure. This is the first building block!
6. Now she can work off of this piece and attach more of these squares to the original piece, until she has a large rectangle about 10-12 inches in length. This will serve as the bottom of the bridge.
7. Repeat steps 2-6 to creat three more large rectanges the same size as the first. These will be for the top and sides of the bridge.
8. Glue the four sides of the bridge together, to form a rectangular shape.
9. Now she can create the four legs of the bridge in the same way. She can break toothpicks in half and make the same shape as before, for four shorter pieces.
10. Glue the legs to the four bottom corners of the bridge, spacing them evenly.