Puzzle Play: Think • Build • Solve is a hands-on problem-solving program designed especially for JK–SK learners. Through age-appropriate puzzles, building challenges, and cooperative games, children explore patterns, spatial thinking, and early logic while practicing turn-taking, focus, and flexible thinking. Each class encourages children to plan, test ideas, and try again in a playful, supportive environment — building confidence, persistence, and joy in figuring things out, with no pressure to “get it right.”
See the Puzzle Play Packing List here.
Instructor Lesson Guide
Program Focus
In this program, it will be up to the Instructor(s) to gauge the interests of the group and decide how best to structure the overall term. Note that depending on the age and attention span of your students, you may want to stretch a lesson across several weeks or combine lessons into one week to keep things exciting.
Puzzle Play helps children develop early problem-solving, spatial reasoning, and persistence through hands-on engineering challenges. Children are encouraged to plan, test ideas, and adjust their designs while working independently and cooperatively.
Children should be reminded that engineers try many ideas before something works.
Recommended Class Structure
- Welcome & Think (5 min) – introduce the concept
- Mini Challenge / Warm-Up (10 min) – quick skill activity
- Main Build Challenge (20 min) – build and test
- Improve & Extend (10 min) – modify or level up
- Share & Reflect (5 min) – quick group conversation
Instructor Guide
Materials Used Throughout
craft sticks
wooden dowels
cardboard pieces
paper cups
domino blocks
building blocks
toy animals
marbles or small balls
tape
Lessons below are divided into three categories: Structure Challenges, Movement Challenges, and Problem-Solving Challenges. These lessons can be mixed and matched depending on class needs.
If your school has safe outdoor space available, speak with your Senior Instructor about occasionally taking your group outside. Outdoor spaces can be wonderful environments for building, testing ideas, and exploring nature, and many of these activities adapt easily to outdoor learning.
STRUCTURE CHALLENGES
Lesson 1 – Builders & Thinkers
Focus: Introduction to building and testing ideas.
Warm-Up: Build a small tower using only domino blocks.
Main Challenge: Tell students they are engineers who have been asked to build the tallest tower in the room. Using any available materials, children build upward as high as they can. Encourage them to try different ideas such as widening the base, stacking materials in different directions, or combining pieces to make stronger supports.
Extension: The tower must now hold a toy animal safely on the very top. If the animal falls or the tower collapses, children can rebuild and improve their design.
Test & Discuss: Lightly shake the table. Which towers stayed standing? What building ideas worked best?
Lesson 2 – Strong Foundations
Focus: Stability and base design.
Warm-Up: Build a tower using only six pieces and try to make it stand.
Main Challenge: Explain that strong buildings need strong foundations. Children build the strongest tower they can, paying attention to how they place the base pieces and how they balance materials.
Extension: The tower must now hold two toy animals on top. Encourage students to improve their structure by widening the base or reinforcing weak spots.
Test & Discuss: Gently tap the table. Which base shapes helped towers stay stable?
Lesson 3 – Bridge Builders
Focus: Spanning gaps.
Warm-Up: Balance a piece of cardboard between two supports to create a quick bridge.
Main Challenge: Engineers need to help animals cross a river. Build a bridge between two stacks of building blocks. Children can use cardboard, sticks, or blocks to create a flat surface that spans the gap.
Extension: The bridge must hold three toy animals crossing one at a time. If the bridge bends or collapses, children can add supports or rebuild the structure.
Test & Discuss: Which bridges sagged? Which stayed strong?
Lesson 4 – Animal Homes
Focus: Designing structures for a purpose.
Warm-Up: Build a small shelter for one toy animal.
Main Challenge: Tell students that animals need safe homes to rest and hide. Children design a home where a toy animal can stay protected. Encourage them to think about walls, roofs, and entrances.
Extension: Improve the home by adding a roof and an entrance and making space for two animals to live together.
Test & Discuss: Which homes stayed standing? Which ones protected the animals best?
Lesson 5 – Storm-Proof Structures
Focus: Structural strength.
Warm-Up: Build a simple house shape using cups and sticks.
Main Challenge: A big storm is coming. Children must build a house that keeps a toy animal safe inside. Encourage them to think about strong walls and balanced structures.
Extension: Improve the house so it can survive a stronger storm.
Test & Discuss: Instructor taps the table gently. Which houses stayed standing?
MOVEMENT CHALLENGES
Lesson 6 – Marble Paths
Focus: Movement and pathways.
Warm-Up: Build a small ramp and roll a marble down it.
Main Challenge: Children create a pathway that guides a marble from start to finish. They can build ramps, turns, or small barriers to guide the marble.
Extension: Add two turns or obstacles before the marble reaches the end. Encourage children to adjust ramp height or angles to help the marble move smoothly.
Test & Discuss: Which pathways helped the marble travel the farthest?
Lesson 7 – Ramp Racers
Focus: Speed and slope.
Warm-Up: Test a marble on two ramps of different heights.
Main Challenge: Build a ramp that sends a marble as far as possible across the table or floor. Encourage children to experiment with ramp height, length, and smooth surfaces.
Extension: Build two ramps and race marbles to see which ramp is fastest.
Test & Discuss: What made the marble move faster or farther?
Lesson 8 – Balance Builders
Focus: Balance and gravity.
Warm-Up: Stack three unusual items and try to keep them standing.
Main Challenge: Children build the tallest balanced structure they can using cups, dominoes, sticks, and dowels. Encourage them to experiment with placement and balance.
Extension: The structure must include at least one cup and one dowel somewhere in the design.
Test & Discuss: Which shapes were easiest to balance?
PROBLEM-SOLVING CHALLENGES
Lesson 9 – Maze Makers
Focus: Problem-solving pathways.
Warm-Up: Build a short pathway for a marble.
Main Challenge: Children design a maze using blocks and cardboard. The goal is to guide a marble through the maze from start to finish.
Extension: Add one dead end and one correct path to make the maze more challenging.
Test & Discuss: Partners test each other’s mazes.
Lesson 10 – Pattern Builders
Focus: Recognizing repeating patterns.
Warm-Up: Create a simple repeating pattern using domino blocks.
Main Challenge: Children build a larger repeating pattern or design using different materials. Encourage them to repeat shapes, colours, or structures.
Extension: Partner continues or expands the pattern without breaking the sequence.
Test & Discuss: What patterns did you notice repeating?
Lesson 11 – Nature Engineers
Focus: Learning from animal builders.
Warm-Up: Build a small nest or shelter.
Main Challenge: Animals are amazing builders. Children design a structure that helps an animal solve a problem such as crossing a river, hiding from predators, or storing food.
Extension: Add a second feature such as a bridge, tunnel, or lookout point.
Test & Discuss: How does the structure help the animal survive?
Lesson 12 – Big Builder Challenge
Focus: Collaboration and creativity.
Warm-Up: Teams build a quick mini bridge.
Main Challenge: Children work in teams to build a nature playground for toy animals. Encourage them to include pathways, shelters, and places to climb.
Extension: Animals must be able to travel from one part of the playground to another.
Test & Discuss: Teams explain how their playground works.
Teaching Tips
Encourage exploration with prompts such as:
What could you try next?
What changed when you moved that piece?
How could we make it stronger?
Who has another idea?
Children should be reminded that engineers test many ideas before something works.
Puzzle Play Packing List
Note that a variety of materials will be packed for this program. Depending on the interests of the participants, additional items may be requested by emailing Liz at any time. Please give at least 1 week notice when requesting supplies.
Building Materials
building blocks (40–60 pieces)
domino blocks (40–60 pieces)
wooden dowels (20–25 pieces)
craft sticks (100–150 pieces)
These materials are used for towers, bridges, shelters, patterns, and structural challenges.
Structural Materials
paper cups (25–30)
cardboard pieces (20–30 pieces in mixed sizes)
sturdy cardboard rectangles for ramps and bridges
extra cardboard scraps for quick building adjustments
Tip: cut cardboard ahead of time into small, medium, and large pieces.
Movement Materials
marbles or small rolling balls (6–10)
small container or pouch to store marbles
Used for marble paths, ramp challenges, mazes, and testing movement.
Flexible Connectors
Twistee wire or soft craft wire (20–30 pieces)
pipe cleaners (30–40)
These allow children to connect materials, reinforce structures, or create flexible shapes.
Connecting Materials
masking tape (2 rolls)
white glue (1–2 bottles)
small binder clips (10–15)
elastic bands (10–15)
These materials help children stabilize ramps, bridges, and structures when needed.
Drawing & Planning Materials
plain paper (1 small stack)
markers (1 class set)
pencils (10–12)
pencil crayons (1 set)
crayons (1 set)
These materials can be used for:
drawing design ideas
planning structures
decorating builds
early finishers
Scissors and a permanent marker can also be included in this section for quick adjustments or labeling.
Small Props
toy animals (6–10)
A mix of animals works well (farm animals, wild animals, or dinosaurs).
Animals are used for testing bridges, shelters, and playground builds.
Nature Materials (optional)
If available, these can be added to the kit:
pinecones
small stones
wood slices
These can be used during nature engineering or pattern challenges.
Books for Inspiration
A small selection of nature or engineering-themed books.
Examples may include books about:
animal homes
bridges and buildings
nature patterns
how things are built
Instructors can briefly share pictures or ideas from the books to inspire building challenges.
Instructor Reminder
You do not need to use every material in every lesson.
Use what works best for the challenge and the space available.
The goal is to encourage children to:
experiment with ideas
test structures
rebuild and improve designs
work together to solve problems