Candy Houses

Let’s make Candy Houses. It is bound to become a family tradition. Could you imagine… Yes, that is how to get kids involved in the creative process sometimes. Planting a thought that they may not have had before. Could you imagine a house made of candy. You know a candy house.

Kids like candy.

Kids like candy. Have you ever meant a kid that does not like candy? And there is a huge selection of candy too. As a kid, I liked candy. When I was younger, there were these corner shops that were in walking distance from our home. They carried the penny candies. Today, children have no idea what I am talking about most likely. For example, one shop had a glass display of this sweet stuff. There were candy bracelets, lollipops, sugar sticks, and sugar dots. It was all so colorful. The other shop around the corner in the other direction handed out small brown bags. In which one picked their candy from dividers and each piece was a penny. So as a child with a few pennies, I could get 20-30 pieces in one visit. That was a big deal.

Kindergarten

In my house it has become a tradition to build Candy Houses each Christmas season. Since my son entered kindergarten, we started to build these candy houses. Because his kindergarten teacher traditionally makes these holiday creations with her students. Mostly, she calls them gingerbread houses, but there is no gingerbread involved. As a result, I have come to call them candy houses. After my son made his and I volunteered to help with the process, we decided to make more at home. Then his sister was inspired. Now it is a tradition in our home.

Sharing the process with you…

Now my daughter has gone through kindergarten. Over the last four years, we have made several of these candy houses. It would be wonderful if you too made it a tradition in your home.

What do you need?

• Hot glue gun
• Plenty of hot glue sticks
• Small milk or orange juice cardboard cartons OR you construct your houses with other food packaging boxes (you will see that I did this)
• Gram crackers or other crackers
• Cake frosting
• Time to construct before kids decorate

AND

• The variety of candy and other snack foods

How to start…

First as the parent or teacher, you will need to hot glue the crackers to the cartons. As mentioned, you could construct a house if needed. We were short a milk carton and so I used other product boxes and made a house. Beware of the hot glue. My husband helped this year and we both received some brunt fingers.

Candy Decorations

Lastly you press the candies into the frosted houses. Over the years, my husband always takes things a step further. This year his mail box and roof are exceptional. Not to mention the Tootsies Roll chimney and his cross theme.

It is a process to organize the colors, shapes, and sizes. Otherwise you will get a candy house without windows, doors, and additions. As you probably imagine younger kids need guidance and help. Especially, when they are trying to attach something that is too heavy.

When they surprise us…

Have your children ever surprised you with an achievement that you may not thought they could achieve? Or maybe that they problem solved something on their own? Aren’t those moments just shocking sometime? My daughter does this. Often she will do something super creative that I am in awe.

Hence her candy house this year did it. So Daddy and brother were working out trees and mailboxes. Of course little sister wanted to be involved with these constructions too. She tends to be the last one who completes the creative projects we work on in our home. Check out the wrap around tree on the house, the shutter window, and the built in porch.

Concluding…

Finally you will see below our completed candy house constructions. Hopefully, they inspire you. For the kids don’t just enjoy the building process, but also the licking and eating process too. Lots of smiles all around.