This guide tours the tallest buildings in the world in a way that's perfect for kids ages 8–12 — with a fun fact about each record-breaker and a free printable worksheet to explore them.
The tallest building of all
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest building in the world. It has 57 elevators and more than 24,000 windows — imagine cleaning all of those!
Record-breaking skyscrapers
Merdeka 118 in Malaysia has glass cut into diamond shapes inspired by Malaysian art.
The Shanghai Tower twists 120 degrees as it rises, and has some of the fastest elevators on Earth.
The Lotte World Tower in Seoul has 'Seoul Sky', one of the highest glass-floor decks in the world — you can look straight down!
One World Trade Center in New York stands 1,776 feet tall — a number chosen to mark the year the USA was born, 1776.
How do buildings get so tall?
Super-tall towers need deep foundations, strong steel and concrete frames, and clever shapes that let the wind flow around them instead of pushing them over. That's why so many, like the Shanghai Tower, are curved or twisted.
Fast elevators are just as important — without them, no one could reach the top floors!
Explore the world's tallest buildings
All seven record-breakers are in our Tallest Buildings activity book, with facts, word searches and an Explorer Certificate. Or grab a free worksheet to start.
A fun challenge: can you name the tallest building in the world — and the country it's in?