Children's books and activities
Builders and Buildings
Do you know any kids who are fascinated by architecture from other cultures, how buildings are designed and built, or what it's like to be an architect? We've gathered up a great collection of books, activities, apps, and websites for learning all about builders and buildings.
Try pairing fiction with nonfiction books and exploring different genres [6] (like poetry and biographies) and formats (like graphic novels and audio books). You'll be creating your own "text sets" — collections of texts focused on a specific topic, such as builders and buildings. Reading widely in this way helps children build background knowledge [7], vocabulary [8], and comprehension skills.
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Is your public library closed?
See if your public library offers OverDrive [17] where you can borrow and read free ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines on your phone or tablet — all you need is your library card to get access. There are also a number of online services that offer high-quality audiobooks and ebooks: Audible for Kids [18], Tales2Go [19], and Epic!. [20] Learn more: Finding Audiobooks and Ebooks [21].
Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Print List
Alphabet Under Construction
By: Denise Fleming
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Purchase book [22]
Build, Dogs, Build: A Tall Tail
By: James Horvath
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Purchase book [23]
Building a House
By: Byron Barton
Age Level: 3-6 years old
A machine digs a big hole. A cement mixer pours cement. Carpenters put up walls. Bricklayers,...
Purchase book [24]
Building Our House
By: Jonathan Bean
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Purchase book [25]
Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets: A Muslim Book of Shapes
By: Hena Khan
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Concept Book
Handsomely illustrated, shapes both simple (square, rectangle) and complex (cone, hexagon) are...
Purchase book [26]
Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors
By: Hena Khan
Age Level: 3-6 years old
This picture book celebrates Islam's beauty and traditions. From a red prayer rug to a blue...
Purchase book [28]
Home
By: Carson Ellis
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Nonfiction
Travel through time, imagination, literature, and more for a unique look at "home" in any number...
Purchase book [30]
How a House Is Built
By: Gail Gibbons
Age Level: 3-6 years old
As readers quickly comprehend, building a house is a complex project requiring the cooperative...
Purchase book [31]
If I Built a House
By: Chris Van Dusen
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Imaginative Jack is ready to build the house of his dreams, complete with a racetrack, flying...
Purchase book [32]
Look at That Building: A First Book of Structures
By: Scot Ritchie
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Nonfiction
Introduce young readers to basic construction concepts through the eyes of five friends keen on...
Purchase book [33]
Palazzo Inverso
By: D.B. Johnson
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Purchase book [34]
Shapes in Buildings
By: Rebecca Rissman
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Can you spot the shape? Crisp photographs help children learn about the different shapes you can...
Purchase book [35]
Young Frank, Architect
By: Frank Viva
Age Level: 3-6 years old
Young Frank is an architect. He lives with his grandfather, Old Frank, who is also an architect...
Purchase book [36]
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Print List
A City Through Time
By: Philip Steele
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Follow the progress of an imaginary city through six key periods of time, each captured by a...
Purchase book [37]
A House Is a House for Me
By: Mary Ann Hoberman
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [38]
A Year at a Construction Site
By: Nicholas Harris
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Send in the cranes! Bulldozers! Earthmovers! Would you like to watch how a building goes up?...
Purchase book [39]
Amazing Buildings
By: Kate Hayden
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [40]
Architecture According to Pigeons
By: Speck Lee Tailfeather
Age Level: 6-9 years old
In this lively introduction to the world’s most beautiful buildings, readers take a journey...
Purchase book [41]
Beavers
By: Gail Gibbons
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Beavers are fascinating animals. They build their own homes and live in family groups. They keep...
Purchase book [42]
Bridges Are to Cross
By: Philomen Sturges
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
This ingeniously engineered book takes readers from the car-carrying Golden Gate Bridge in San...
Purchase book [43]
Bridges: Amazing Structures to Design, Build & Test
By: Carol Johmann, Elizabeth Rieth
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Historical and technical information on the design and construction of bridges with easy hands-...
Purchase book [44]
Building on Nature: The Life of Antoni Gaudí
By: Rachel Rodriguez
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [45]
Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon
By: Kelly Starling Lyons
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
Philip Freelon’s dream became reality when his team was commissioned to design the National...
Purchase book [46]
Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building
By: Christy Hale
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Recognizable constructions from childhood such as blocks and sandcastles and playful verse are...
Purchase book [47]
If You Lived Here: Houses of the World
By: Giles Laroche
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [48]
Iggy Peck's Big Project Book for Amazing Architects
By: Andrea Beaty
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [49]
Iggy Peck, Architect
By: Andrea Beaty
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [50]
Let's Build a Clubhouse
By: Marilyn Singer
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [51]
Monumental Verses
By: J. Patrick Lewis
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [52]
Roberto: The Insect Architect
By: Nina Laden
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Ever since he was a wee mite (a termite, that is), Roberto has wanted to be an architect....
Purchase book [53]
Skyscrapers! Super Structures to Design and Build
By: Carol A. Johmann
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [54]
The 13-Story Treehouse
By: Andy Griffiths
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Fiction
Purchase book [55]
The East-West House: Noguchi's Childhood in Japan
By: Christy Hale
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Nonfiction
A biography of Isamu Noguchi, Japanese American artist, sculptor, and landscape architect,...
Purchase book [56]
The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale
By: Steven Guarnaccia
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Purchase book [57]
The World Is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid
By: Jeanette Winter
Age Level: 6-9 years old
Zaha Hadid grew up in Baghdad, Iraq, and dreamed of designing her own cities. After studying...
Purchase book [58]
Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing
By: April Jones Prince
Age Level: 6-9 years old
This well-researched, handsomely illustrated picture book captures the anticipation and...
Purchase book [59]
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Print List
A Green Place to Be: The Creation of Central Park
By: Ashley Benham Yazdani
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
How did Central Park become a vibrant gem in the heart of New York City? Follow the visionaries...
Purchase book [60]
Amazing Buildings
By: Philip Wilkinson
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Purchase book [63]
Building (Eyewitness Books)
By: Philip Wilkinson
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Purchase book [64]
Building Big
By: David Macaulay
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Purchase book [65]
Built to Last
By: David Macaulay
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Purchase book [66]
Crossing on Time: Steam Engines, Fast Ships, and a Journey to the New World
By: David Macaulay
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Nonfiction
This fascinating story of the development of steam engines is told against the backdrop of David...
Purchase book [67]
Curious Constructions: A Peculiar Portfolio of Fifty Fascinating Structures
By: Michael Hearst
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Some structures — like the Eiffel Tower and China’s Great Wall — are familiar. Others, however,...
Purchase book [69]
From Mud Huts to Skyscrapers
By: Christine Paxmann
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A journey through the history of architecture, from the earliest mud huts to today’s soaring...
Purchase book [70]
Take Shelter: At Home Around the World
By: Nikki Tate
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A roof, a door, some windows, a floor. All houses have them, but not all houses are alike. Some...
Purchase book [71]
The Art of Construction: Projects and Principles for Beginning Engineers and Architects
By: Mario Salvadori
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Purchase book [72]
The Future Architect's Handbook
By: Barbara Beck
Age Level: 9-12 years old
For children with a passion for drawing, or dreams of creating buildings, this book explores how...
Purchase book [73]
The Story of Buildings
By: Patrick Dillon
Age Level: 9-12 years old
"Every building has a story to tell." From the pyramid erected so that an Egyptian pharaoh...
Purchase book [74]
What It Feels Like to Be a Building
By: Forrest Wilson
Age Level: 9-12 years old
Have you ever felt squashed? Squeezed? Pulled? Tugged? If so, then you know what it feels like...
Purchase book [75]
Who Built That? Modern Houses
By: Didier Cornille
Age Level: 9-12 years old
A tour through ten of the most important houses by the greatest architects of the 20th and 21st...
Purchase book [76]
Hands-on Activities
Build on what you're learning together through books with these family-friendly activities, experiments, and crafts.
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30 Ways to Use a Cardboard Box [77]
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4 Easy Pop Ups [78]
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5 DIY Bird Houses [79]
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ABCs of Architecture: Building Parts [80]
AIA New York Center for Architecture -
Acting Out Architecture [81]
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Architecture Bingo [82]
Architectural Heritage Center -
Architecture Shape Collage [83]
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Architecture Shapes [84]
Frank Lloyd Wright Martin House -
Bird's Nest from Twigs [85]
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Box City Curriculum [86] $
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Bridge Builders [87]
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Build a 3D Scale Model [88]
AIA New York Center for Architecture -
Build a Green Roof [89]
American Society of Landscape Architects -
Building Materials Scavenger Hunt [90]
Washington Architectural Foundation -
Building Stories: Design a House [91]
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Building Tension [92]
Foster + Partners -
Building Texture Rubbings [93]
AIA New York Center for Architecture -
Canine House of Cards [94]
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Cardboard Box City [95]
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Cardboard Box Forts [96]
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Cardboard Castle [97]
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City Pop Up Card [98]
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Drawing Symmetry [99]
AIA New York Center for Architecture -
Engineer a Bird's Nest [100]
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Fairy Garden II [101]
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Four Orders of Architecture [102]
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Geodesic Gumdrops [103]
Exploratorium -
Geometric Shapes in Architecture [104]
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation -
How to Draw Blueprints [105]
AIA New York Center for Architecture -
Islamic ornament in architecture [106]
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Landscape Architecture Activities [107]
American Society of Landscape Architects -
Make Your Own Building Ornaments [108]
AIA New York Center for Architecture -
Marble Run (Complex) [109]
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Marble Run (Simple) [110]
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Mini Art Gallery [111]
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Mr. McGroovey's Cardboard Box Project Plans [112] $
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Neighborhood Memory Map [113]
AIA New York Center for Architecture -
Newspaper Forts [114]
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Paper Skyscraper [115]
Foster + Partners -
Roman Aqueduct [116]
Bright Hub Education -
Roman Villa [117]
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Scandinavian House [118]
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Shapes and Patterns in Nature [119]
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation -
Suspension Bridge I [120]
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Suspension Bridge II [121]
Summer Writing
Give kids a chance to flex their writing muscles all summer long. Try one of these prompts, selected from our writing contest archives and other literacy organizations.
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Animal Homes [122]
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Buildings in My Community [123]
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What Is It Like To Be a Building? [124]
Great Websites for Kids
Dive deeper into topics of interest with these media-rich and interactive sites.
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Architecture Adventure [125]
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archKIDecture [126]
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Build a Sod House [127]
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Building and Construction Games [128]
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Building Big [129]
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Creating Pop-Up Books with Robert Sabuda [130]
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Design Squad Nation [131]
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Discover Design [132]
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Kids Think Design [133]
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Kikki's Workshop [134]
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Makedo [135]
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Pyramid Builder [136]
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What Makes a Building? [137]
Great Podcasts for Kids
Listen and learn with these podcasts especially for kids. These podcasts are free and easy to listen to from any device via Apple Podcasts [138], Google Podcasts [139], or Stitcher [140] — or from Listen Notes [141], a podcast search engine.
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Bridges vs Tunnels [142]
Brains On! -
How do elevators work? [143]
Brains On!
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World’s Fair Structures: Our Top Five [144]
The Past and the Curious
Educational Apps
Educational apps recommended by Common Sense Media and other trusted reviewers.
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BallFallDown [145]
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Busy Water [146]
$
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Crazy Gears [147]
$
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Cyberchase 3D Builder [148]
$
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DIY: Get Skills, Be Awesome [149]
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LEGO App4+ [150]
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littleBits Invent [151]
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Skyscrapers by Tinybop [152]
$
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Spaghetti Marshmallows [153]
$
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Toca Builders [154]
$
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Toca Robot Lab [155]
$
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X Construction [156]
$
More Themed Resources
Growing Readers Tip Sheets
Simple activities for parents and kids to do together to build reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. Read online or print the PDF.
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Teaching Sequence [157]
Download PDF: English [158] | Spanish [159] -
Think Like an Inventor! [160]
Download PDF: English [161] | Spanish [162]
Our Summer Blog
Washington DC for Kids
Places
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Library of Congress [167]
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National Building Museum [168] $
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National Zoo [174]
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The White House [176]