Gingerbread Houses

This is a reposting of a Gingerbread House project Grade 7 students created last December.

They made these out of construction paper, glitter and tempera paint.

First, they looked at photo examples of gingerbread houses for inspiration and I also brought in a real one. This year I bought a fake gingerbread house made out of polymer

clay simply to have an example far less fragile.

polymer clay Gingerbread House

History of Gingerbread Houses

 The first gingerbread houses were made in Germany. Children’s story writer, the Brothers Grimm, made them famous in the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel". The story featured a gingerbread house, which was called "Hexenhäuschen"(Witch House). Gingerbread is traced to Europe back to the 11th century. Crusaders returning from the Middle East brought back, among other items, a spice -- ginger. Soon after, different varieties of gingerbread appeared throughout Western Europe. Gingerbread is known in Germany as lebkuchen and in France as pain d'épices. 

So students started off by planning their ideas in their sketchbook.

Then, on purple or blue construction paper, they painted

a snowy background with tempera paint.

Create falling snow by dipping the end of a paintbrush into paint and dotting it on.

While the background paper is drying, start the gingerbread house. Use brown construction paper, cut out the basic shape and then draw on details with a pencil.

Finished drawing.

Start painting on details with tempera paint. Once everything is dry, students can add further details/outlines with coloured pencils. They also added glitter for an extra wintery sparkle.

Ta da!!

        

 

On display with the Grade 6 snowglobe project which you can see here.