Fun and Educational Too??

Last Friday ten little children gathered at my house to decorate gingerbread houses. The sister of one of our moms is a chef, and she took the time to make these beautiful houses and bring the frosting and fixings for decorating.

The kids ranged from 4-10, and had a lot of fun. At least, they think they were having fun. We moms knew however that this was really an educational opportunity.

What did they learn?
1. Social skills. They shared the candies, and a few of them handed out the candy canes and teddy grahams.
2. Fine motor skills. They were shown how to properly squeeze the frosting bag (just like milking a goat!), and were manipulating all sorts of tiny candy pieces.
3. Critical thinking. It took some time to figure out how much frosting "cement" was needed and how long to hold it for drying.
4. Art class. Their imaginations were in full swing!
5. Home ec. It was all food after all!
6. Math. Some of the kids were very symmetrical in the decorating, matching up colors and numbers of candies in the pattern of their designs.
7. History. Ok, we did not do any history, but if we had prepared ahead it would have been interesting to know just how making gingerbread houses became a part of Christmas culture.
8. Architecture. Again, not too much of this, but with teens we could have had them design their own houses. Maybe next year.

Here are some pictures of my little ones working on their houses...we can add mentoring since two of my teens helped their little siblings!