Graham Cracker Houses

I have made graham cracker houses every December since I was a child. These are used as center pieces as well as gifts to be given away while Christmas caroling. In high school, I had friends come for a house building party, and now as a mother of teens we continue to make it an event. There have been several years when I have built 25 houses or so to take into my son's class as a party activity, and once, I think my friends and I assembled about 75 for a church party.

Last week, I had my students decorate their own houses as part of our architecture unit. We watched a video about Frank Lloyd Wright's amazing house, Falling Waters, and discuss the importance of architecture in our daily lives. We talked about the parts of a house (eaves, balcony, columns, etc), and why building designs include floor plans and elevation plans. Each student got a pre-fab house with their own royal icing bag, and candy collection. There were plenty of extra graham crackers for garages, car ports, dog houses, chimney's etc. One student even decided to add on a second story. Experiencing the curriculum in 3D is very important to blind and visually impaired students, and making something edible ups student engagement quite a bit. Happy house building!