Book Review: Adventures in Architecture for Kids: 30 Design Projects for STEAM Discovery and Learning by Vicky Chan

Adventures in Architecture for Kids: 30 Design Projects for STEAM Discovery and Learning by Vicky Chan offers readers a world of possibilities for learning math, engineering, history, social studies, planning, geography, art, and design. It includes hands-on projects that allow kids to experiment, design, build, succeed, fail, and try again. Complete building challenges with corrugated cardboard and geodesic forms. Look at how designers have solved impossible problems of gravity and space with creations such as suspension bridges, the Loretto helix staircase, and Brunelleschi’s dome. Explore how materials can be used in interesting ways—how paper can go from flimsy to structural, for instance. Participate in family game playing: client and design team—finding creative ways to meet a client’s wish list. Use games to test strength, balance, and structure. Engage in pure imaginative archi-doodling.Explain the why. Why did styles evolve as they did? What technology was available when?

Adventures in Architecture for Kids is a well organized and visually appealing book. I found the layout and instructions to be easy to understand and follow, and the images chosen to match the content and intent perfectly. I liked that the materials used in the activities were all things that were likely to already be in the home (or school) or easy and inexpensive to get. I also liked that the notes to adults were interesting, informative, and could easily lead to further instruction or discussion about the project, not just the mechanics of it but sometimes the practical history and application of the architecture involved. I did like that an index and glossary were included at the end of the book, but I would have loved to see a page of resources at the end of the book for further reading and research.

I think this book would be a fantastic addition to a home library for families with members that are interested in projects like this, and homeschooling families. I think it would be a valuable resource in school and public libraries as well.