Right now, if you visit my home city of San Francisco, you won't be able to walk 1/4 mile without seeing some sort of construction going on.  There are high rises going up faster than Jack's beanstalk, arenas taking over waterfronts, and enough scaffolding to make our city look like one giant jungle gym.  When I cross the Bay Bridge from Oakland or Berkeley I play a game called count the cranes...my lowest tally so far was 15, the highest was 32.  

Since my city is "under construction", I thought it might be fun to share these fun construction activities from bigrentz.com.  Big Rentz has rental associates all over the US (like over 8,000 of them) and provides really cool construction equipment like the above-mentioned cranes and my personal favorite - scissor lifts (I have always, always, always wanted my own scissor lift!).  It's not really the place one would go when looking for kids activities. However, they have built an awesome post filled with great STEM-related challenges and printables.  It's the perfect link for those of you looking for engaging, entertaining, unplugged fun.  

The best thing about these construction challenges is that most of the items can be found in the average home or school - things like marshmallows, toothpicks, cardboard, pasta, rubber bands.  If none of these items sounds like building materials to you, then I suggest you hop over to the sight right away and see just how creative your kids can get with items from your kitchen cabinet.  

My personal favorites include the scissor skills sheets, lego building challenge, and the neighborhood under construction activity which includes little printable work orders!  There are also great learning tools for reading, speech, and thinking outside the box.  Truly something for everyone.  

Building something from nothing is one of those things that appeals to all children regardless of gender or age and is bound to begin countless conversations about how things work.  So if your in the market for an afternoon of constructive fun, look no further thank Big Rentz, it's a link that's going to help you build lasting memories.