Dot 'n Build Vertical Towers

A super easy DIY activity to add a fresh challenge to building block play!

We were kindly gifted this Blocks Rock! game. You can use code FINDMORE for 15% off on Amazon (cannot be combined with other Amazon offers). All opinions and images are our own and completely genuine.

We love finding new ways to add a fun twist to our building block play. Dot markers are such an awesome way to whip up a quick set of DIY pattern cards but this time I thought we could use the dot markers to make some vertical tower building challenge cards.

What you need:
- building blocks (we used the ones from our Blocks Rock! Game)
- dot markers (we used our Do A Dot Art rainbow pack)
- white card

How it works:
This was so easy to prep. I simply cut the A4 white card into strips and put them out along with our blocks and dot markers. I asked my 6 year old to use the dot markers to make vertical tower pattern cards. In other words, he would choose the color dot marker that corresponded with the type of building brick. We were using red, yellow, green, blue and purple blocks so I only made those dot markers available.

I reminded him to think carefully about the shapes of the blocks. For example, the green blocks are triangles therefore they can only go at the top of the tower.

Once he had made the pattern cards, he would attempt to build the towers without them falling over. Some of them were pretty tall and really took some concentration!

This was such a great activity for STEM learning. Big bro had to think carefully to engineer tall and stable towers, whilst also demonstrating patience and good fine motor skills.

We finished off by making a few simpler pattern cards ready for 3 year old baby sis to test out. She was just as excited with the activity and it was great to see her using her color recognition and vocabulary so accurately.

We are looking forward to trying this activity again but making our strips of card even longer to see if we can build taller towers!