In this activity, your child can try thinking like a car designer, using materials you are likely to have in your pantry. Use the activity to talk about the parts of a car or truck, or simply let your child be creative and have fun eating the vehicle after it’s complete!

To make an edible car, you will need candies and cookies that represent different parts of a car or truck. Here are some suggestions:

• Graham or other rectangular crackers
• Dried fruit (e.g., cherries, cranberries, raisins)
• Dry pasta in various shapes
• Carrot sticks
• Pretzel sticks
• Round hard candies
• Small chocolate candies
• Sandwich wafer cookies
• Marshmallows (small and large)
• Round crackers
• Chocolate bars
• Gumdrops

You will also need wax paper to use as a platform to build the car, toothpicks to connect the pieces that can be pierced, and butter cream frosting, along with plastic knives to apply the frosting between parts like glue.

This exercise is adapted from a curriculum on sustainable development by GM’s educational partner the Keystone Center. You can learn more about Keystone and the curriculum at http://www.keystone.org. GM has partnered with the Keystone Center to provide teachers with curriculum on sustainability. The Keystone Center, a non-profit organization, teaches people of all ages, from all over the world, how to review critical information, work with diverse groups and use scientific reasoning and processes.