Edible Art: Lincoln’s Log Cabin

Hey, friends! With President’s Day right around the corner, I wanted to share a fun project you can do with the kiddos that combines two of my favorite things…creating and eating! All you need are a few basic supplies, and you can create a completely edible version of Lincoln’s Log Cabin.

Of course, this is something you can do at home with your family, but in our case, we did the project at Little Crafter’s school. Together with a friend of mine who also happens to have a child in LC’s class, we set up a table with everything the kids would need.

Supplies {per house}:
Cake board or cardboard
Plastic Knife
30 Utz Country Store Pretzel Sticks – if they’re not available in your area, you can cut pretzel logs instead
6 Pretzel Logs
Pretzel Snaps
Assorted Candies {we had conversation hearts, M&M’s, gumdrops, sprinkles, marshmallows, and more}
Royal Icing Powder Mix
Water
Electric Mixer
Damp Paper Towels

Before you begin, you’ll need to mix the royal icing according to the package directions. You can also make your own using a favorite recipe, but we wanted to avoid using raw eggs so that the whole house would be edible. Place some icing in a cup and cover it with a damp paper towel when not in use to keep it moist.

Step 1: Build the foundation of the house by placing four pretzels in a square on the cardboard base. Attach them with the royal icing.

Step 2: Continue building the sides of the house by stacking pretzels on top of the previous ones.

Step 3: Add supports.
When you have 3 or 4 “logs” on each wall, place an icing covered pretzel stick vertically in each corner to help make the structure more sturdy. Then, you can continue building up the walls until you reach the tops of the supports.

Step 4: Add a roof.

Step 5: Decorate!
Pretzel snaps make great windows, and kids will have fun letting their imagination go wild as they place the other candy decorations all over the house and “yard.”

It takes between 40-60 minutes to build one of these houses, depending on the ages of the kids and how decorative they want to be. Once the house is finished, you can enjoy looking at it AND eating it!

And, of course, it gives the perfect opportunity to tie in a little history. You can talk about or read about Abe Lincoln and discuss with little crafters how a log cabin is similar to and different from the home they live in today. What do you think? Is this an activity your family would enjoy?