Evelyn and Clementine had their hearts set on designing and baking their own gingerbread houses this year. I can't say my heart was in it at first, in fact, I can say unequivocally that my heart was not in it.
But it was so important to them. So I tried to view it as an excellent learning experience.
First they each made a prototype out of paper. Topics covered: Design, Measurement.
Then they arranged the papers in the baking trays like a tangram puzzle to see how many sheets of gingerbread we'd need. Topic: Math.
I found a recipe.
Evelyn quadrupled the recipe. Topic: Fractions.
Ev and Greta did the dry ingredients. Topic: Counting (14 cups of flour!).
Oops--no ground cloves. We'll have to grind them ourselves.
I had to step in to do the final stirring of the stiff dough.
The assembly had its rocky moments, and there had been some slight miscalculations, but with a lot of royal icing and perseverance, they held together.
Clementine calculated the number of sweet tarts in her garden path. Topic: Multiplication.
Evelyn used some of the green not taffy we made to make windowpanes. Topic: Recycling and Resourcefulness. The light she put in the window is more witchy than welcoming, I think.
Evelyn's design.
Clem's design.
Greta used a Trader Joe's kit.
or this 
3 comments:
So cool that they get to learn real school stuff while "driving a project to completion," as we say in the biz. Was the result intended for eventual consumption?
Beautiful and educational.
Thanks for the recipe link! Mackenna has a peanut allergy so we can't use a box kit. Every year I say I am going to look for a recipe, but don't get around to it. Next year the littles will definitely be old enough and we will do it.
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