Bryan Berg currently holds the Guiness World Record for the largest structure built out of playing cards!

.He uses no tape, glue, or tricks, and his method has been tested to support 660 lbs. per square foot.

Trained as an architect, Bryan Berg is the only known person to make a living building structures with free-standing playing cards.

Berg earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from Iowa State University in 1997, and served on the design faculty there for three years. In 2004, Berg earned a master's degree in design studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Berg has stacked cards for corporate special events, public relations campaigns, and science and children's museums in many U.S. cities, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Berg's clients have included Walt Disney World, Lexus, Major League Baseball, the NHL, and the San Francisco Opera. He also participated in a music video by The Bravery, playing a man who builds a fantasy world out of cards. He says that his favorite part of making the enormous card structures is always knocking them down. He says that when he knocks them down it makes it very clear and reveals to all who see it that he used no tricks to keep the cards together.

You can see some of his amazing work by following this link: Cardstacker Buildings

Or watch this interview he did for Showtime here: Berg Interview

Your challenge is to build a castle out of cards! try making the tallest building you can make, Try making the strongest and test it by putting heavier and heavier things on top and see if it stays up. Keep experimenting and remember don't use any glue or tape!

Take a picture of it before you knock it down!!!

second week of distance learning:

Paper towel roll castles

4/13-4/17

Since we started thinking about structures with the card stacking lets stick with some architecture. This week we can use some of those paper towel and toilet paper rolls that we accumulate through the week to build a medieval castle.

All we need is scissors, pencil, markers, crayon, or paint

Start by coming up with a plan for your castle. How many towers will it be and the heights of the towers. Remember you can tape tubes together. using your scissors cut the tops of the towers to have a castle shaped top.

You can cut windows and doors by pinching the tubes flat and cutting half shapes. A little experimenting will let you see how that was done in the picture below.

Now decorate your castle pieces by drawing brickwork on them. If you want to paint them and have the supplies then go ahead.

Next week we will continue to make our castle and you will need a shoe box or an appropriate sized cardboard box decorate an amazon shipping box or shoe box and join them together with glue.