Pop-Up Gingerbread Houses

Sweet pop up house! I love that little gingerbread person that also pops!

First graders have been learning about the job of an architect. They understand that architects are people who design and build buildings. I thought it would be fun to put a holiday twist on our pop-up architecture lesson and ask the students to design gingerbread houses.

We took time to look at examples of gingerbread houses and discussed how patterns of candy create interesting designs on the building. We also recognized that gingerbread houses are usually constructed with a triangular roof and square room below.

We then reviewed proper tool use, glue application, oil pastel use, and collage techniques after which the supplies were passed to each table. Students were encouraged to be creative and add details to the background to create a space for the building to be placed.

Here are some of their constructions in progress.

Great start!

A sunny day in gingerbread land.

This artist really mastered the pop up technique.

A wintery world.

I love the change in size of each building.

I originally found this lesson at Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artist blog and it was designed for kindergarten. I adapted it for 1st graders with a more sophisticated task of creating the pop up with a cut and fold rather than a paper tab glued to the paper.  Perhaps the kindergarteners will get this lesson in the Spring time when we create garden gnome homes.

Thanks for stopping by!