Graham Cracker Castles

Bhakail Yule 40^th Anniversary, Barony of Bhakail 12/03/2011
Coordinated by The Honorable Lady Jolie Delarue

Graham Cracker Castles Activity: Ages 3+ with parental/guardian assistance for those under the age of 8

Materials needed: Graham Crackers; Ice cream cones (waffle & regular); Royal Icing in pastry bags; Candies, marshmallows, sprinkles, or colored sugar; Empty Cardboard Cereal Boxes; Aluminum Foil; Plastic garbage bags; Baby Wipes; 4x6 Index Cards; Pencils; Tape; Toothpicks with Flags;  (optional: canned goods to help the walls of the castle stand while gluing them together with icing)
Items to prep ahead of time:

• Royal Icing separated into pastry bags in white, gray, browns, or any other color for the exterior of a castle.
• Fold down the empty cereal boxes flat & cover with aluminum foil for use as the building base for the castles. Tape down edges of the foil to prevent paper cuts from handling. 
• Make smocks out of plastic garbage bags by cutting a head hole & two arm holes for participants to wear over garb to keep from getting icing on clothing.
• Out of duct tape or paper, make flag shapes to attach to the toothpicks.

Activity:

• Have each participant (or parent/guardian) take a 4x6 index card, fold it in half & write their first name & age on the card.
• Distribute foil covered cardboard bases and graham cracker packs to each participant. Also, allow participants to choose 4 ice cream cones and some candy decorations to use. When working with varying age groups, it is suggested to allow the youngest to choose first and then go up by age.
• If there are enough bags of icing, allow each participant to choose their own bag to work with. If there are not enough bags of icing, then pair up participants to share colors & take turns using all the colors they wish to use for assembling and decorating.
• Have the participants use the icing to glue together the graham cracker walls and roof of the castle.
• Depending on how many levels (1 or 2) each participant would like for their castle, place the ice cream cones on each corner of the roof to act as turrets or towers.
• Use icing to attach toothpick flags, candies, sprinkles and colored sugar to the exterior of the completed castle for further decoration.
• Once the participants have completed their castles, set up a Youth A&S display with each participants castle & name card while the icing dries.

Example of one of the completed "Castles" constructed by one of the attendees at Bhakail Yule '11 on display as part of the Youth A&S table.