December is the time for celebrating the holidays and what better way then to construct a gingerbread house, using graham crackers, homemade icing, and colourful Smarties and jellybeans. We started off by making the icing, measuring out the powdered sugar, mixing in the water and stirring until the icing got thick and sticky finding the perfect consistency in hopes that it will be a good glue to keep the graham crackers in place to build their houses.
They carefully arranged their graham cracker walls, ensuring problem solving to make the walls sturdy. Some experimented with roof shapes, while others problem-solved when pieces tipped over. With patience and determination, they learned how much icing was needed to keep their structures standing. Some had to pivot their original plan and created a fenced yard with the graham crackers, which is what Lucy ended up doing.
This encouraged the children to persevere through the obstacles and problem solve what they need to fix it or create a new idea.
Once the houses were standing, they added Smarties and jellybeans for decoration and even added more of the icing to create a frozen winter scene. They created colourful roofs using the smarties and jellybeans, Sloane even placed her bananas on the top of the roof drizzled with more icing. This supported children’s creativity and sparked their imagination in creating their gingerbread houses.
This activity offered a rich blend of creativity, construction, problem solving and building their imagination. They were engaged, showing confidence as builders and pride in their finished houses where they got to enjoy a sweet treat. A great way to start off celebrating the Christmas season.
