Gumdrop dog and Garibaldi doghouse


You will need:
  • A piece of cardboard
  • Scissors
  • A sealable freezer bag
  • Two Garibaldi biscuits
  • Vanilla frosting
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • Sour strawberry belts
  • Gumdrops
  • Licorice whips
  • Shredded coconut

What to do:
  1. Frosting is the "glue" that holds the doghouse together. Combine a can of ready-made vanilla frosting with one-quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar. To apply the frosting, squeeze it out of a sealed freezer bag with a whole cut in one corner.
  2. Cut a 30cm x 30cm square piece of cardboard.
  3. Break the Garibaldi biscuits in half. The side walls are each made of a half biscuit turned horizontally. Ask a parent to create the front and back. For each, use a serrated knife to gently saw one of the narrow ends of a biscuit half into a peak. Run a bead of icing along the bottom edge and sides of the crackers. "Glue" them together in a rectangle while you work.
  4. Run icing along the tops of the walls. Place two half biscuits - turned horizontally - on top of the sides, using icing to hold them in place. Let the icing set overnight.
  5. "Glue" pieces of the sour strawberry belts along the roof for shingles and a licorice whip turned in an upside-down U shape for the door. Use extra icing to create icicles.
  6. Next, make the dog. "Glue" two gumdrops together to form the body. Stick on pieces of gumdrops for the ears, nose, and tail. "Glue" the bottom of the dog to the cardboard.
  7. Add other decorations if you would like. For example, create trees by gluing gumdrops to ice cream cones.
  8. Let everything set overnight. Cover the cardboard base with shredded coconut to finish your snowy scene.
Photograph by Rebecca Hale/NGS staff