Christmas STEM Activity Your Kids Will Love to Eat: Gingerbread Houses

This weekend a friend of mine invited the kids and I to go to a library near her home to make gingerbread houses.  Let me tell you my kids had a fantastic time doing a Christmas STEM activity that is a must try!

Materials Needed

This is a STEM activity you have to try this Christmas season with your kids.  The materials needed are fairly simple.  You need a small milk carton, some frosting, a plate, graham crackers, and different types of candies, cereals, pretzels, etc. to decorate the house.  They used gummy bears, skittles, marshmallows, pretzels, fruit loops, peppermint, some other hard round candies, and licorice. (So even though we think of these types of houses as gingerbread houses, this was really a graham cracker house….lol)

 

Steps to Making the House

The “glue” is the frosting.  So the first step is to put some frosting on the bottom of the milk carton so that the carton will stick to the plate.  After the carton is stuck to the plate, have the child begin to put frosting on the other sides of the carton.  Next have the child begin to place the graham crackers on all sides of the carton.

Once all the “walls ” are up, let your child’s imagination go wild.  They will use the frosting again as glue, and place different candy pieces or other food toppings on top of the walls.  This is a great opportunity for the child to come up with different patterns.

The Finished Products

Annaliese, Andre, and my friend’s kids did a great job.  Here is my friend’s daughter’s house.  She did a fantastic job!

Here are the houses of my three kids.  Abigail, my 2 year old helped  to put some of the glue on the carton and helped with putting walls on, but by the time it came to decorate she was heavy into eating the decorations, so I  finished her house for her. 🙂

Your Kids Will Love the Idea of Eating Their Creations

One of the BEST parts of this STEM activity is getting to EAT the house!  My kids were SOOO excited to get home so they could eat their houses.

So while you and your kids are counting down the days to Christmas, you HAVE to try this STEM activity that will spark your kids’ imaginations and have them smacking their lips!