Crystal Color Stacking Blocks

crystal color stacking blocks

Discover the beauty of our wonderful R60310 Crystal Color Stacking Blocks! Stack up the clear color blocks to form new colors. Place on top of Roylco’s R59601 Educational Light Cube for even greater light effects!

crystal color stacking blocks

To start, we began by placing the blocks directly onto the R59630 Light Cube with the light turned off. We let the campers explore the blocks on their own first. This was a great exercise for kids as they described the block colors and stacked the blocks according to the grooves on the back.

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As soon as we turned the Cube on, all eyes were on it!

crystal color stacking blocks

It was absolutely mesmerizing, even for the most active kids.

crystal color stacking blocks

Next we placed the R59630 Sensory Tray onto the Light Cube. As you can see from the photo above, the clear tray allows the bright colorful light of the Light Cube to shine through. We also added a bit of sand to the inside and challenged the young architects to build the strongest tower they could make. The tower had to withstand the vibrations of the Sensory Tray once we turned it on.

crystal color stacking blocks

Accepting their challenges, the campers filled the bottom blocks with sand to secure the structure in place.

crystal color stacking blocks

They continued to fill the blocks with sand until they realized it might be too top heavy to withstand the force of the vibrations. We tested it out and sure enough, the whole thing toppled from the top down!

crystal color stacking blocks

Next, they tried a different formation. They flipped the blocks the correct way and buried the edges into a pile of sand, thinking that this might be the trick to getting the tower to stay upright.

crystal color stacking blocks

The base held together after we turned the Sensory Tray on, but not the top! Since they stacked multiples of the same block together, those parts fell first. It was a great learning experience, and every time we tried to pack up the activity, the kids begged us, “Just give us 5 more minutes! We need to build a stronger tower!”

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Straws and Connectors City

Straws Connectors City

On a nice sunny day, we went outside to build structures as part of our city development and planning lesson! We dropped a TON of Straws and Connectors on the ground and asked the campers to build around the city roads we made from special rolls of tarmac-like paper.

Straws Connectors City

What a mess! Soon to be made into an amazing sculpture with the help of a few creative minds!

Straws Connectors City

Lots of collaborating took place as some campers built off each other’s sculptures.

Straws Connectors City

Some structures required a little reworking!

Straws Connectors City

Others knew exactly what they wanted.

Straws Connectors City

These campers worked together to build a structure of cubes. They added more cubes and then at some point, realized that they needed a bit of variety to their structure…

Straws Connectors City

As soon as one of the camp helpers showed them how to make variations with the straws, the boys were hooked!

Straws Connectors City

These campers also took on the challenge and added more interest to their building design.

Straws Connectors City

More and more designs popped up in other areas surrounding the “streets.” These designs looked like magnificent building achievements!

Straws Connectors City

We all worked together to make the best out of our designs, and in the end we built a whole city of color! Later, our campers took a walk throughout the “city” to view all the great architectural designs. This is a fun outdoors activity that will last all day and make the most of your students’ problem-solving, critical thinking and design skills.

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Spotlight on… Art Deco Paper

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Build skyscrapers, cathedrals and city centers with R15308 Art Deco Paper

This paper craft has 8 fantastic patterns and colors fashioned in the art deco style. Art deco was a visual art style that emerged in the early 20th century and spanned across everything from art and architecture to fashion and interior design. Famous examples of this style used in architecture can be found in places such as New York City where the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building display prominent art deco lines and curves.

You can build your own art deco city with this paper pack. Fold the paper in half twice lengthwise. When you unfold the paper, you will see 4 fold lines. These fold lines can be turned into corners for each building. Tape up the paper edges to secure the paper into a cylinder. Alternatively, you can cut the shapes in half to shorten or lengthen the size of each building.

Combine the buildings with other elements such as our R49701 Highway Letters and R75304 Super Topplers to make the streets and people in your city! Explore lessons in community building and infrastructure. Talk about the history behind art deco architecture and the choices made to stylize buildings in certain ways.

You don’t just have to use the Art Deco Paper for building paper cities. In addition, the paper can be used to decorate journals, gift boxes or greeting cards! Cut the paper into shapes and paste onto the items to decorate.

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Light Cube: Colorful Block Combinations

light cube blocks

We’ve established many times that working with blocks on the Light Cube is a great way to engage students who love to build–it helps to focus their attention with beautiful light and color combinations! 

light cube blocks

These blocks were found at our local toy store but we found them to work amazingly well with the Light Cube. We set the glow to a soft white and placed the blocks on top.

light cube blocks

We asked our friend Stephano to arrange the blocks into the tallest tower he could manage to make on top of the Light Cube.

light cube blocks

Since the blocks are rectangular, they can only be stacked together in an intertwined pattern like Jenga blocks!

light cube blocks

We showed Stephano how to interlock the pieces together. As he gradually stacked upwards, he started to turn the blocks in different angles, which produced a slightly different tower than the one we envisioned.

light cube blocks

Here is the tower all finished! Look at that amazing lean… what will happen when Stephano plays a round of Jenga?

light cube blocks

He decided not to ruin his tower, as it was accomplished with a neat new building pattern! When have you seen a Jenga tower look so sculptural?

light cube blocks

…But we dared Stephano to try removing one block anyway and he settled for selecting one from the top. The whole top half went crashing down! “That’s okay,” Stephano told us, “I’ll build it up again!”

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Squarehead Teachers: Straws and Connectors Giveaway!

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Head on over to Squarehead Teachers and complete the challenge to win a FREE box set of Straws and Connectors! Contest ends December 16, 2014 at midnight.

The Straws and Connectors set is an awesome gift to give your kids or classroom of students this Christmas! Build and design beautiful structures or new shapes. You can learn more about the Straws and Connectors in our recent post at the link or visit the giveaway on SquareheadTeachers.com for more details!

The giveaway post features a full detailed description about the Straws and Connectors with gorgeous photos of various constructions! Check out the full post for contest details.

Are you stumped on where to find lesson plans for your grade-school classroom? Covering a specific unit and can’t find any ideas for it? Be sure to check out Squarehead Teachers! Besides providing you with a variety of amazing FREE PRINTABLES, you gain access to a wide range of subjects for any occasion. Use the resources for any educational space; learn at home or in the classroom with inspirational ideas.

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Thank you to Mindy @ Squarehead Teachers for hosting this giveaway! 

Images © Squarehead Teachers

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Guest Post: Straws and Connectors, Autumn Leaves Paper Bits and Dry Erase Classroom Tunics

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Here’s a sneak peek at a few ways our creative crafters used some of our products! All these photos were sent in to us by people who would love to share their ideas. So take a look around, and get acquainted with some projects you could use in your own educational space!

Our first few photos show how the Straws and Connectors were used for building large and tall structures that the kids could climb inside of. We provide each kit of Straws and Connectors with a reference guide for building these kinds of structures and more! Use the diagrams as a basis for designing your own creations.

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We used the Straws and Connectors structures as the inner designs for our Color Diffusing buildings. We painted large sheets of Color Diffusing Paper with watercolors. Once the sheets were dry, we wove them in and out of the gaps in the design. Check out the beautiful photos of this project at the link!

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These gorgeous wreaths were made with our Autumn Leaves Paper Bits! The clever design used a card wreath cutout. The crafters then glued the leaves on top. Alternatively, you could use a paper plate and cut out the center to use as the wreath base.

The video below shows a basic project you can try with the Autumn Leaves. This simple craft uses construction paper and the leaves to make a 3D-looking tree.

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Finally, our last photo reveals what this teacher decided to use her pack of Dry Erase Classroom Tunics for! Although the Classroom Tunics can be used for temporary notation–such as using dry-erase markers to write numbers or letters on them–there are many other uses for them! For instance, this teacher laminated circles in different colors and pasted them onto various Classroom Tunics. Using a story about introducing the colors of the rainbow, she had several of her students act out the storyline while wearing the tunics. It’s a great way to engage the class on multiple levels–learning literacy, colors, order and sequencing, and group collaboration!

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Thanks to our subscribers for sending us photos of their work! If you would like to send us your photos in order to be featured in our next Guest post, please contact us through the contact form! We’d love to hear from you!

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Project Spotlight: Straws and Connectors

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What’s so great about our Straws and Connectors? Besides the colors, the simplicity of combinations, and the potential for lessons about geometric structure? Learn more below!

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There are two simple components in the Straws and Connectors pack: the straws, which come in a variety of bright and fun colors, and the connectors, which feature 6 prongs to position the straws in any direction.

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The most basic shape that students can easily construct is a square using the straws and connectors. Add on more straws and connectors to fill in the structure and turn the square into a cube!

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Explore more three-dimensional shapes and talk about their properties as students build them.

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The straws are long enough that they can be bent to make curves in the structure, so you are not simply limited to making square structures. It’s a great cooperative material as well! Students can work on separate pieces and combine them all together to make a larger sculpture. This way, children use their skills in coordination, cooperation and critical thinking to create a finished piece.

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We challenged our students to build their own projects separately from each other. Students first had to brainstorm their ideas and then bring their projects to life. Can you guess what this project will be?

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You can see how this art camper continued creating curves in her structure. This perfectly illustrates just how versatile our Straws and Connectors are!

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This art camper made a boat!

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And this is a rocket!

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Straws and Connectors are a perfect gift to your children this holiday season! Give your students the ability to exercise multiple motor functions while creating sculptures they can truly be proud of!

See more about the R6085 Straws and Connectors here:

What else can you make with the Straws and Connectors?

Do you have a Straws and Connectors pack? If so, what kinds of structures did you make with them? We’d love to read your comments below!

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Educational Light Cube: Dimensional Art by Twins at Play!

The awesome sensory and light play blog Twins at Play delivers a new post about our Educational Light Cube! Check out this great combination of our Light Cube Building set and Constructa Clips on a beautiful illuminated surface and the coolest sculpture you’ve seen yet! 

© Kristen from Caution! Twins at Play! blog

This is what Kristen from Twins at Play had to say about her twins’ experiences with these products:

My twins and I have been enjoying making awesome shapes, sculptures, and art on the light cube with the Constructa Clips light table building kit! The kit comes with 48 red clips and 32 mylar shapes. The shapes are nice and sturdy but do bend a little for awesome building fun! The shapes are also great for color lessons! I love this kit, it is perfect for the light cube, light table, or even natural light play! They cast great color in sunlight!!

In the photos below, we used the clear plastic trays for the light cube to hang the clips from. Then we were able to build outward and downward with the constructa clips and shapes!  This was a really fun and unique building experience. This was also a very unique light cube/light table play experience.
We also used a plastic straw to create art sculptures. We used the 4 clip constructa clips to attach shapes and then we just put the straw through the whole in the center of the constructa clips. What a fun way to create art and building at the same time on the light cube!!

Thanks to Kristen @ Twins at Play for putting together this awesome post!

To see more about our R59601 Educational Light Cube, visit here!

R60165 Constructa Clips Light Table Building Kit can be viewed in-depth here.

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Educational Light Cube: Stacking Colorful Cups


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View the dazzling effects of color-changing light on the cube with dollar store variety cups and plastic drinking glasses! Develop fine motor skills through arrangements of stackable cups… see more of this exercise below!


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To start the activity, we first turned on the Light Cube to the ‘white’ setting. Next, we placed a stack of clear-color plastic cups we found at the dollar store on top of the cube. The white brings out the brightness of the clear colors and allows kids to see what inside of the various cups look like when they’re stacked together.


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We next asked our art camper Stephano to take the structure apart. He wanted to see how the individual pieces looked like. Without the bases, these regular dollar variety martini glasses appear quite unique!


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How about we add some more to the mix? Here’s a good look at what happens when you stack multiple cups of the same color together–the colors become extremely saturated, meaning that they are intensified.


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Now let’s add another level of complication to our structure with the bases for the cups.


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Stephano decided to structure the martini glasses in a way that they could easily be stacked together with the bases intact. He decided to place them standing on top of the inside of each cup.


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Next, we amplified the colors of the glasses by changing the cube’s color to red. This created a stark glow throughout the room and helped Stephano focus directly on stacking rather than the colors of the cups.


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Once we turned the cube’s color back to white, we got to see how Stephano had randomly chosen differently-colored cups to stack together. Reflecting back on the activity, Stephano noticed that he wasn’t so worried about which colors he used while he was stacking. Instead he could focus directly on stacking the cups together, and then afterwards enjoyed the surprise when he got to see what combinations of colors he used!


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