Kids Building Big: A Geodesic Dome in Less than an Hour!

Here’s a construction activity that a group of students can complete in less than an hour using just newspapers and tape. It’s a great activity to integrate into a study of STRUCTURES or SYSTEMS, through lessons such as the ones found on the PBS site, Building Big.

Before building these domes, you might want to introduce students to the use of trusses in architecture and construction. This activity, Straw Shapes, requires only straws and paper clips, or you might want to adapt Building Straw Bridges from Teach Engineering to reinforce that concept.

It would be great to follow up introductory lessons with this 5-minute video from PBS’s Design Squad, “Strong Structures with Triangles.”

Next, your students can use the instructions in this handout to create individual geodesic domes using toothpicks and gummy candies or mini-marshmallows, tightly-rolled paper and tape, or whatever materials you choose. Making individual domes prior to building the large one gives students a better understanding of the steps involved in joining the shapes.

To create the larger dome shown above, students work together. Depending on your class size, students can each roll one or two paper tubes from newspaper sheets; a total of 25 tubes are needed. Students may have to practice rolling to get the tubes really tight. Three newspaper sheets are stacked and then rolled from one CORNER to the other. The tighter they are rolled, the stronger they are. The newspaper tubes are then taped or stapled together to create the dome.

Use this slide show to guide students in creating the structure. You may have to reinforce the corner joints of the dome with extra tape or staples. Once the dome is complete, it’s really fun to have student groups of three climb inside the dome for pictures!

There is a wonderful Google Earth activity called “Triangular Structures” you might like to incorporate with this activity as well.

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