Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

When I used to work in an outpatient clinic environment, I used to have the kids make these gingerbread type of houses out of graham crackers.  It was a fun, christmasy activity that was good therapy at the same time.  It was also out of the ordinary, and the kids loved it.  I had my daughter and her friend make these so that I could take pictures for my therapy site.  The girls had a blast.  I love how one of them is really messy and the other is really neat and clean.  They tasted yummy when they were done too.

You use graham crackers in place of the gingerbread, and use frosting to stick the pieces together in the shape of a house.

Then you can decorate it with a multitude of candy decorations.  Spreading and knife skills are worked on when putting the frosting on the graham crackers.

Fine motor skills are used to place the candy decorations on the house.  It can also be a good sensory experience.

Visual perceptual skills and motor planning are used when figuring out how to get the building to stay up, and where to put the candy pieces.

Materials:

• paper plate
• graham crackers
• frosting
• candy for decorating
• butter knife

Skills:

• fine motor
• visual perceptual
• ADL knife use
• sensory, tactile
• motor planning