Gignerbread House Construction

[SilverSabre25]

Sooo...in a not-entirely-off-topic-I-promise post, I have to say that I just found out that one of my favorite food blogs (http://cookitallergyfree.com/blog/) is hosting a gingerbread house making contest...and I am inspired to enter. No, not just to maybe win the neat prize...but making gingerbread houses is fun! And it's been YEARS since I've done it. Like, fifteen or sixteen. I think.

This of course has me wondering...at what age can you expect little ones to be able to either make OR at least decorate the little gingerbread houses made of graham crackers? How about a newly turned 3 and a 2.5 who can't even color very well? Am I insane? (answer: probably...)

[Pammie]

Well you probably are insane if you expect their result to look anything like a gingerbread house. But if you're offering it as a learning experience, then go for it::

What might help is if you use a small 1/2 pint size milk carton as the base, and stick your graham crackers onto it to make a firm base for the kids to stick their candies on. Use lots of royal icing to hold it all together and give it a day or two to set up before you have the kids decorate. And just be wary of choking hazards with the candies that you give them to decorate with.

I've had kids make little gingerbread houses using the milk-carton bases and only colorful cereal to decorate with (Froot Loops, Berry Kix, etc) . They - and their parents - were quite proud of the results.

Good Luck!