How to Make a Building Out of Spaghetti Sticks

Sketch a design for the tower to determine the best way to acheive your goal. If you are building with children for fun, this is a good chance to teach about design, geometry and tower building. For competitions, base your design on your objective. Those striving to build the tallest tower should focus on height and maintaining a vertical structure. Strong tower competitors should include lots of support beams to hold the structure up.

Arrange your noodles on your work space in the shape of your base. This is often a square, but you can make yours any shape you like. Break the spaghetti noodles so the base is the size you want. Remember you will not be able to make your tower wider in future steps.

Join the spaghetti noodles in the base shape by sticking the ends of the spaghetti noodles in mini marshmallows. For example, four marshmallows stuck between two noodles at each corner will make a square base.

Stick spaghetti noodles vertically into the marshmallows to build vertically. Add any support structures extending diagonally from the marshmallows.

Stick the same number of marshmallows used for the base to the ends of the vertical noodles and any support beams you add. If you are using a square base, for example, you will use four marshmallows to create four corners for the tower's second level.

Stick noodles into the marshmallows horizontally to create the tower's second level, trimming the noodles slightly shorter than the previous level's noodles. This shape should be a slightly smaller version of the base shape, which will allow your tower to taper toward the top. Minimize the tapering to create a taller tower.

Repeat Steps 4 to 6 until you complete your tower, following your design. Add extra support beams if you need them once your tower is completed. End the design with one marshmallow connecting the final vertical noodles.