Making Your Own Monument: Brick and Stone Building Kits

Real Brick and Stone Building Kits

Building kits have long been a favorite childhood activity. Whether it’s airplanes, cars, ships or robots, there’s no underestimating the valuable role this activity has played in helping children develop their problem-solving, mechanical and analytical skills.

Educational Insights, a company specializing in educational products for home and school, found a way to combine the benefits of this play activity with history and architecture via their Real Brick and Stone building kits.

Currently, there are four kits available, each one depicting a world-famous architectural masterpiece: the Roman Coliseum, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and the Great Wall of China. Using realistic, mini kiln-fired bricks and mortar that they mix themselves, children ages 8 and older can construct small-scale replicas of these renowned works, or a structure of their own design. Unlike many other building kits that use permanent bonding material to hold the pieces together, the mortar used in the Real Brick and Stone building kit easily dissolves in water, meaning the structures can be built, dismantled and built again.

In addition to the bricks and mortar, each kit also contains a miniature wheelbarrow that can be used to mix the mortar, a trowel-like tool for handling mortar, an L-shaped ruler and illustrated instructions. Each kit also includes a base labeled with the structure’s name on which the finished work can be displayed.

The kits ($29.95) and 16 oz. mortar refills ($6.95) can be purchased directly from Educational Insights’ website (educationalinsights.com) and are also available at teacher supply and specialty toy stores.