Building Gingerbread Houses #Craft

What’s better than craft time after lunch?  Craft time you can eat!

I’m talking gingerbread houses, made out of graham crackers, because let’s face it:  it’s faster than baking, and I already had them in the cabinet.  I also already had a packet of gingerbread house icing leftover from a kit we got last year, but if you don’t have icing on hand, you can find a royal icing recipe online.

Before calling the kids together I assembled the houses.

I originally was going to put slanted roofs on them, but then I started thinking about the delicate touch of my 2 1/2 year old son…. And I decided a flat roof would hold up much better for him.  I did the same for “big sis” to avoid fighting.

To build these all you need are 6 graham cracker squares.   I piped the icing onto the edges of the crackers using a zip-lock bag with the corner cut off.  (I used my finger to squish it when necessary so it would hold…)And for candy?  We got an overload at Halloween; time to use some of it up!  I dug through our collection to find pieces I thought might work.The preschooler and I made houses last year, so she got right to work.  The toddler?  He was pretty sure the candy was supposed to go in his mouth…  Mommy gave him a few extra graham crackers to preserve his house, and eventually we put a few sugary decorations on it, in between bites…Once the houses were finished, I thought, “Hey, how about using the last two ice cream cones I have left from making Peanut’s castle birthday cake to make a few little Christmas tree?”  So I dug those out of the pantry and got out one more roll of Smarties.

The kids and I had lots of fun making their sugary Christmas decorations.  They’re planing to leave them for Santa this year – unless the toddler eats them first!

Have you made gingerbread houses from graham crackers?  Any tips to share?

 

This post was shared on Made by Little Hands Monday and Ladybug Blessings.