Architecture, design and engineering activities for children in lockdown

Architects, designers and cultural institutions, including Foster + Partners, Dyson and the V&A, have created educational activities for children to ward off the boredom of coronavirus lockdown. Here are five of the most entertaining.

Arquitecture para colorear by Carmelina&Aaurelio Taller de Arquitectura

Mexican studio Carmelina&Aaurelio Taller de Arquitectura has created a free to download architectural colouring book.

The book encourages people to recolour well-known buildings including Casa Barragán by Luis Barragán and the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum by Oscar Niemeyer.

"What do you think if we change the colours of the buildings that surround us?" asked the studio in the book's introduction.

"It doesn't matter if you're five or 105, this book was made for defacing. There are no instructions, the only rule is experiment!"

Challenge Cards by James Dyson Foundation

The James Dyson Foundation has created 44 engineering and science activities for children in lockdown, which can be completed using common household objects.

Divided into 22 science tasks and 22 engineering activities, the Challenge Cards include tasks like making a ballon car and designing a bridge from spaghetti.

#Architecturefromhome by Foster + Partners

British architecture studio Foster + Partners has created a series of architecture challenges called #architecturefromhome. Tasks include building a paper skyscraper and building a city.

"The recent lockdown has offered us an opportunity to create a number of online initiatives that educate and entertain our online community and support parents and carers with children who may not attending school at the moment," said Katy Harris, senior partner at Foster + Partners.

"The #architecturefromhome initiative is a chance for all of us to have some fun and learn at the same time," she told Dezeen.

#LetsMakeWednesdays by V&A

London's V&A museum is curating a weekly series of creative lockdown challenges for children aged between seven and 11. Each of the tasks challenges children to create an item from household objects that is inspired by something in the museum's collection.

So far the museum has challenged the children to design clothes, put on a performance and recycle something old into something new.

Architecture at Home by the Architecture Center

Architecture at Home is a series of tasks to entertain children created by the Center for Architecture, which is operated by the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Activities include baking your own building ornaments, taking part in an architectural scavenger hunt using Google Map, and making a pop-up building from a paper bag.

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