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I look for ideas and inspiration for new projects for the kids whenever I am out shopping. While walking down the cereal isle at Walmart I spied the new Kung Fu Panda Po Power Crunch and Berry Colossal Crunch… I knew immediately that we needed to use this cereal in one of our construction projects! You may think that cereal is just for breakfast, but not in our house! It is an afternoon snack in a bag to munch on, a topping ice cream Sundaes, and Construction material. (Say What?!? Don’t worry… I’ll explain!)
Encouraging my children to develop their brains is very important. I want them to look at the world and find inspiration to create, construct, and invent. These babies that are growing up right now are bombarded with technology that will do everything for them. They don’t have to use their imaginations hardly at all. They can sit on the couch for hours and hours and not be bored when they have electronic devices in front of them.
Don’t get me wrong, my kids have kindles and game systems and I don’t mind them using them. I mind when that is ALL they are doing! They have to learn this technology. Because, well, let’s face it… Technology isn’t going to go away, it’s just going to get more technological and permeate even more areas of our life. I love technology. It certainly has made my life better and easier!
So, I am working on finding a balance. I want them to learn to be proficient in technology, but I also want them to learn to use their own brains and the things they find around them to build, create, and invent. My husband and I are trying to purposely create opportunities to encourage construction, innovation, & creativity in our children. Simple things like being outside and using nature to build a play fort. Or my favorite, being in the kitchen and giving them edible building materials and letting their minds go wild.
With the Kung Fu Panda Po Power Crunch, Berry Colossal Crunch in my cart and just a few more ingredients, I had everything I needed for the boys to create a mini kung fu hut! They love anything that has to do with marshal arts. And they LOVE the Kung Fu Panda movies!
I deconstructed the cereal box to use as the base for our kung fu huts. Just two of the boys were planning on doing this project, although a third woke up from his nap ready to join in the fun!
Our spread of construction materials for the boys to use were simple ingredients:
- graham crackers
- Kung Fu Po Power Crunch
- Berry Colossal Crunch
- Frosting
- Food Coloring
- Plastic bags for piping frosting
- Assorted Candies (from our candy stash that mom hides…)
- Sprinkles
Building Directions:
- Put frosting in piping bags or zip bags for easy handling.
- Talk about what kind of structure you want to build. Decide with your children the best way to build to keep the structure from falling over.
- Spread frosting on the bottom of cardboard base for stable beginning of structure.
- The frosting will be glue for your structure. Make sure to use liberally when building.
- Tip: The graham crackers hold together better when making boxes, or triangles and then placing them on top of one another.
- When your structure is built, it’s time to decorate!
- Pipe frosting over edges of building and on the ground around.
- Decorate liberally with cereal.
- Let children use their imaginations and creativity.
- Give suggestions, but encourage them to think of ways to make their ideas work for both building and decorating.
I let the boys decide what kind of hut they were going to make. Before we started we talked out how we would construct the house and keep it stable. We tried a few different ways, before finding the best layout to keep the hut from caving in. I love listening to the boys talk about what construction method they want to use and the ideas in their mind that they can come up with are awesome and hilarious!
Once we had our huts standing solid and no longer collapsing, the boys set to work decorating. (And eating in between!) My oldest decided to make a Po Snowman using the cereal. It was quite funny.
When the huts were finished they paused long enough for me to snap a few pictures of their beautifully constructed masterpieces and frosting covered faces…. And then, they decided that dragons were attaching the kung fu huts!!! They were, of course, the dragons. And had to knock down the huts with their teeth. Silly Boys….
I am thrilled with another successful, fun project that encouraged construction, creativity, and innovation. Cereal is so cool! According to my kids who now think they are kung fu construction master builders.
Check out the new Kung Fu Po Power Crunch and Berry Colossal Crunch at Walmart and maybe even construct your own kung fu huts! I hope you find creative ways to challenge your children’s minds. Give them opportunities to be creative, build new things, get innovative and let their minds soar with imagination. Even with simple things around the house we can grow our children’s little creative minds and prepare them do great things in the future.
Happy Construction!
Keikilani
I haven’t seen either of those brand here in Canada yet so I am going to have to keep my eyes open for them. So cute that they made “houses”. I only ever think of making one at christmas.
You are a fun mom! My boys would have a BLAST building with food like this!
What a cute little idea, and it looks like the kids LOVED it…why wouldn’t they…playing with food is so much fun!!
This is so awesome, and we can’t wait to see the movie. My kids love nothing more than making a sweet treat – using creativity and cooking/baking/kitchen skills, and then eating!
What a fun activity!!
That is such a cute idea and your kids are adorable! Thank you for sharing.
What a fun idea! What kid (or adult for that matter) wouldn’t love to use their imagination AND enjoy a little sweet nibble while they work?!
It’s fun to build things out of graham crackers and candy. My kids always enjoyed that.
I never thought of making cereal houses, what a fun and creative idea!
It is a fun idea to let children play with cereal and use it as a building tool. It is something the children will enjoy. It is a nice way to let them learn and have fun at the same time.
They look like they ate as much as they built! LOL! Very cute idea to use the cereal like that.
This is a cute idea to give the kids some fun in the kitchen! We’ll have to look for the Kung Fu Po Power Crunch cereal on our next Walmart trip!
What a great idea. My kids love cereal. It is pretty much what they eat every morning. I will have to check out those Kung Fu Po Power Crunch ! They will love it!
What a great idea, and it looks like the kids LOVED it…so much fun!
What a great fun and delicious way to help little ones showcase their creativity. I know this activity would be a hit in my home.
What a great idea! They came out so cute and I think I would have eaten them before they were finished!
Your kids look like they really enjoyed the construction. I need to try this with my littles, they love building things