This project was a bit of a changeup from a lesson that I've done in the past. Typically in the past, I have done a one-day project on architecture with my kindergarten students. I usually show them pictures of buildings and talk about what an architect is. This year, I decided to get in the holiday spirit, and make some blueprints of gingerbread houses! After talking to students about what an architect does and what blueprints are, we watched videos of how gingerbread houses are made. We found a really cool video that talks about Swiss Colony from Monroe, Wisconsin and how they make 35000 gingerbread houses every year.

To start off the project, each student grab a brown piece of paper. They were given small and large pieces of cardboard and these were used to print a design of their dream gingerbread house. We talked about details to consider including such as attics, doors, windows, and chimneys. I reminded them that printing is just like using a stamp. They were also given marker caps to add a bit more variation in the shapes they were making.

The second day of this project, I set out all kinds of fancy art materials that they could add to their gingerbread houses. This included stamps, buttons, sequins, and red and white pipe cleaners that have been twisted together to look like candy canes. Students started with the stamps and added snowflakes, holly, presents, and peppermints to their artwork. Lastly, students glued down any of the extra details that they wanted to their artwork.

​I love how fun these turned out! I will definitely continue doing this variation of the blueprint project!

With my recent spring break trip to Chicago and my LOVE for architecture, I thought it fitting that we do a little architecture project. We took a look at some skyscrapers in Chicago and I talked to them about the Great Chicago Fire and how this cleared out a large part of the city which was rebuilt with skyscrapers. I was blown away when one of my kinders already knew all about it! We had a little chat about architects and their use of blueprints to design buildings. We also talked about printmaking which is sorta like using a stamp.

For this project, we used pieces of cardboard, marker caps, and some trapezoid-shaped pieces of plastic to print white paint onto blue paper. I told them that the building could be any kind of building that they wanted: bank, restaurant, hotel, dream house, etc! I loved seeing all the details they made like stairs and decks!