After washing their hands thoroughly and making lots of bubbles, the children gathered around the table to work together on building the house. Some children were already familiar with gingerbread houses and shared that they had one at home or had made one before. Nidya mentioned that this was her second time making one.
We worked in groups of three, adding icing to the walls of the house. At first, the children seemed shy and unsure about how to apply the icing or how much to use, but as they continued, their movements became more confident, and they scooped more icing from the can. We learned that we needed to add icing to each side of the pieces first; after completing the first wall, Maddie remembered this step and made sure to add icing to the other side.
Soon, the four walls were standing, and we were ready to carefully place the roof on top. “Wow! Isn’t that impressive?” Liam exclaimed. “What is impressive?” Mary asked. “The roof,” Liam answered, adding, “Now it is interesting.” The educators wondered whether he meant the way the roof stayed up or how the house was taking shape. “Yes, it is interesting,” several children echoed.
With the house now standing, it was time to decorate. The children took turns getting more icing and spreading it over the candies. This wasn’t an easy task—the candies were small and uneven—but it provided a wonderful opportunity to practice fine motor and problem-solving skills. Penelope discovered that spreading icing on the candy was difficult, so she instead moved the candy over the icing on the stick. This worked beautifully, and her candy stuck easily to the roof. Lana and Maddie noticed her strategy and followed her lead.
Each child chose where they wanted to place their candies. Hannah and Liam decided theirs would be doorknobs and chose the doors on both sides of the house.
Nihal observed that the house kept falling apart and that Nidya often had to hold it together. The children worked together to add more icing to strengthen the structure.
After the house was complete, we all enjoyed some of the leftover candy decorations.
And what happened to the house, you might ask? Our Christmas Social was planned for the next day, so the gingerbread house became our gift to our families. During the social, families placed their name tags into a basket to be raffled. Congratulations to Mason's family!
