Gingerbread Architecture
This is a great holiday activity for the whole family!
1. Describe what an architect does
2. Find perimeter using non-traditional units of measurement
3. Identify shapes in real life
4. Make a gingerbread house!
- Frosting—1 can, off-brand, normal icing—not “whipped”
- Graham crackers
- Gum drops
- Licorice
- Mini candy canes
- Mini Marshmallows
- Peppermints
- Powdered sugar
- Pretzel sticks
- Pull ‘n Peel Twizzlers
- Red & Green M&Ms
- Red & Green Sprinkles
- Red hots
- Shredded coconut
- Plastic plates to sit houses on
- Cartons or small boxes to serve as the house foundation
- Rulers
Engage
In this activity, you are the architect! What is an architect? Architects plan and design buildings for different uses. They know tons of math and science to help them visualize and draw the plans for a building.
What is a structural engineer? A scientist that studies how to design structures to support weight, they might help architects build large structures such as sports stadiums or skyscrapers. They also know tons of math and science.
Perimeter: Let’s pretend that you want to make a border all the way around your house.
- What might happen if you didn’t know how much material you needed? (run out, have too much, etc.)
- How could you figure out how much material you need? Measure all four sides.
- This measurement is called PERIMETER. Perimeter is a big word that basically means add all four sides.
- Measure all four sides of their gingerbread house using a ruler and find the perimeter. L+L+L+L=P
- Because your gingerbread house is square, is there another way that you could have figured out the perimeter (how much material you need to go around all four sides)? (Yes, a square has four equal sides, so you could Lx4=P.)
Perimeter Practice: Find the perimeter of your house using non-traditional tools and record them on your paper.
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Item |
Perimeter |
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Cheerios |
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Red Hots |
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M&Ms |
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Gum Drops |
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Peppermints |
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Explain
Shapes: Also, identify shapes.
What shape is a door? (rectangle) Windows? (Square/circle) Can you make a rectangle? Circle? Hi-light the division of a graham cracker rectangle into two equal pieces creates a square.
Construction! Next, work on constructing your graham cracker gingerbread houses.
Construction Procedure:
- Frost the graham cracker walls to the sides of the juice carton.
- Place one graham cracker square on top to make the base of the roof.
- Next, lean two graham cracker squares against each other to make a pointy roof. Cement with lots of frosting.
- Then, decorate with candy to your heart’s delight!
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