Graham Cracker House Architects

The Great Graham Cracker House Challenge

Before winter break Team Gibbas architects were tasked with the challenge of designing then building graham cracker houses that met specific building codes.  

Building Codes:

• The area of the floor plan must be 5 graham crackers or less.
• The structure can use no more than 25 graham crackers in total.
• The structure must have walls and a roof. 

Materials Acquisition:

In order to receive building materials students had to submit their blueprints to the building commissioner, Mrs. Gibbas for review.  The blueprints were required to have the structure's base traced and the footprint's area and perimeter accurately calculated in centimeters.

The Building Process:

Once the blueprints were approved students began building their graham cracker houses.

Design Challenges:

Some students faced challenges along the way.

Two students learned why homes in snowy New England have slanted roofs when their roof began to cave in when piled with snow icing and decorations.

Completed Graham Cracker houses:

Grade 4 Common Core Standard:

4.MD.3  Apply the area and perimeter formulas for rectangles in real-world and mathematical problems.