Easy "gingerbread" Houses For Kids

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

I AM A BROWNIE LEADER AND WANT TO DO GINGERBREAD HOUSES WITH THE GIRLS (1ST GRADE). I HAVE SEEN ONES MADE FROM GRAHAM CRACKERS, BUT CANNOT FIND THE LITTLE MILK CARTONS YOU NEED TO GLUE THE CRACKERS ON.

ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS OR WEBSITES I CAN CHECK OUT? IT HAS TO BE AGE APPROPRIATE (6 YEARS OLD) AND OF COURSE FUN. I THINK WE ARE JUST GOING TO USE THE CANNED FROSTING - I HEARD SOMEWHERE THAT MAKES IT GOOD AND CAN HARDEN.

ANY SUGGESTIONS WILL BE WELCOMED. MY MEETING IS NEXT WEDS.'


THANKS,

DEBBIE

 

[sha_lyn]

canned frosting will not harden. It is like butter cream frosting. Royal frosting is the type that hardens. The easiest way to make royal frosting is to buy wilton "just whites" and follw the recipe included. I can't think of anything off hand to replace the milk cartons. Perhaps you could just contact the parents and ask that they have each child bring one home from school, or call a local school and ask if you could get some used ones after lunch.

 

[Tiggerkeeper]

Just a note...I made a gingerbread house from a kit with my preschoolers when I was teaching and I used a glue gun (since we weren't going to eat it) construct it. Still used the icing for decoration but the walls were much sturdier this way. They turned out so cute that we had individual pictures taken and used them for Christmas cards for their relatives!

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

TIGGERKEEPER - DID YOU HOT GLUE THE GRAHAM CRACKERS TOGETHER? I WOULD THINK THAT THEY WOULD BREAK IF I DID THAT.

 

[ASFCurly]

Another thought is sugar cubes, we made them that way when I was younger, you can always put the graham crackers over.

 

[Tiggerkeeper]

We didn't use graham crackers, we cheated and used a pre-baked gingerbread! After gluing those walls weren't coming down for anything and believe me we put it to the test!


TK

 

[Kermit]

I've made graham cracker houses with a class of first graders and had pretty good success. You can preassemble them if you want and just let them decorate them.

You do have to use royal icing to put them together. Either buy powdered egg whites or use eggs that are pasturized in the shell.

If you do the houses out of graham crackers, you can do it without graham crackers. Just lay one graham cracker down on the table, then lay 2 crackers on their sides and "glue" them to the long edges. Top it with another cracker laying down on the top. Get 2 whole crackers and cut the top half to a point (like a triangle on top of a square) and glue those to the sides. Get 2 more crackers to form the roof, and you're done. Make sure you let them harden a few hours before decorating.

The December issue of the magazine PC Teach It, which should hit news stands any day now, has complete directions and pictures of what I'm talking about. I wrote the article.

 

[SandraC]

We've been making tiny houses for years, even when dd was 3yo. I use this simple edible icing recipe: icing sugar and enough DROPS of water to thicken. EASY! It hardens great!

When dd was very young, I made the houses and let them set ahead of time, so all she did was decorate with candy. Also, simple open-top boxes from cookies make great train cars and you can fill them with candy!

PS: I once make Cinderellas Castle from real gingerbread and ice cream cones. If someone can tell my how to attach a scanned photo, I can post a picture of it! THX

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

SANDRA C - WHAT IS ICING SUGAR? CONFECTIONARY SUGAR PLUS THE WATER?

 

[sha_lyn]

sandra... Three should be instructions on the tech baord but I'll give it a shot. You need to unload the pic to the web. If you do not have a personal site go to the main page of the dis and go to the member pages. Start a new member page. After you are signed up, go to your page. there is an area to upload files. it is fairly easy to figure out. You then open the page the file is saved to and copy the address. you then post that as a link on the message or you type {img}<i> past your address here</i> {/img} using [ instead of { and ] instead of }