Cracker Gingerbread House Challenge

What you need

• Square crackers, about 10 per house
• Powdered sugar, 1 cup
• Water, 1 to 2 spoonfuls
• Bowl, 1
• Spoon, 1
• Zip bag, 1
• Kid scissors, 1
• Plate or tray, 1
• Cereal or raisins, a small handful
• Dried fruit, a small handful (optional)
• Ruler, 1

How to do it

Grown-up prep: Gather square crackers, powdered sugar, a bowl, a spoon, a zip bag, a paper plate, a ruler and some cereal or raisins. Cover the table, since icing gets sticky.

1. Stir the powdered sugar with a little water until it's thick like toothpaste.
2. Spoon the icing into the zip bag and seal it shut.
3. A grown-up snips a tiny corner off the bag. A grown-up does this
4. Squeeze a square of icing lines onto the paper plate.
5. Stand your first cracker wall in the icing and hold it still.
6. Add three more walls, icing every corner where they meet.
7. Lean two crackers together on top to make a pointy roof.
8. Let go and watch your house for ten minutes. Does it stand?
   Ask: Do you think your house will still be standing in ten minutes? What part might wobble first?
9. Try adding a second floor, then measure how tall your house is.
10. Decorate with cereal and raisins, then challenge a friend to build taller!
    Ask: What would you change to make your next house even taller or stronger?

Play it again

• Tallest tower: see whose house reaches highest on the ruler before it tips.
• Weight test: balance cereal pieces on the roof one at a time and count how many it holds.
• Village build: make a row of tiny houses that share walls, like a street.