Advent Calendar 2013 Activity - Day 3: Make and Decorate a Gingerbread House with Fischer Tips

This was a last-minute and not entirely successful project.  ("Shouldn't gingerbread houses have sloped roofs?" I remember somebody commenting).  I was actually looking for an excuse to test out a different modelling material on Wugs and had come across Fischer TiPs in a local toy shop during a sale.  The TiPs have a similar texture to that of polystyrene, but are made from potato starch.  If dabbed on a moist sponge, they become sticky and can be pressed into different shapes, stuck to other materials or to each other.  If dipped in water, they turn to paint.


What we used:
Cardboard box
Fischer TiPs
Sponge

I started the activity by putting the coloured Fischer TiPs into different pots, which Wugs emptied out and then sorted into different colours.  I cut out parts of the box to make the house and showed Wugs how to dab the Fischer TiP onto the sponge and then stick it to the house.  He created the chimney and the wreath-like shape above the door and then he spent the afternoon sending his cars down the chimney and racing them through the doors!