All Edible Model Of Chumash Village

Creativity runs in my family. I have a beautiful small family which includes my lovely wife and two adorable children. My eldest born is in 4th grade and the other one goes to kindergarten. Both my children are very creative, observant and intelligent. They love to do experiments on different things. Recently, my daughter got a school project. My wife & daughter did a great job on repurposing the CA required 4th grade Mission project, with a Chumash Village, that of course was made from all edible items.

The shopping list for this project was simple but it was expensive since everything had to be purely edible. When we added up the cost, it exceeded our budget. However, coupons saved our day. Using coupons on food items, allowed us to purchase the items at a lot less than the actual price. Not only were we able to get what we wanted but we got it all within the budget. From, caster sugar to jellies and rice mixtures to Bundt cake batter, we found everything within a reasonable price range.

Take a look at the pictures below and see what an amazing job they did!

The first thing we had to do was to decide the base of the project. Instead of going with a green layout, we chose to go for golden grass for our Chumash village.

Paper-wrapped florist wire for the willows

Next step was to cover the structure of the house with Tule to act as shelter or walls. We used green sour tapes to do the job!

Sour Tape to represent new Tule

Top view of the 'ap'

Finding everything edible for this project was not easy. My wife and daughter first planned and designed the whole project and then made a list of the things they might need. My wife put a lot of imagination and creativity into placing everything together. I mean who could have thought, sour tapes could look like Tules, right?

Firepit is added in the middle, and icing on the sides

To add final touches and details, my wife mixed up some icing and added that to the sides of the entrance so it can look like whale bones and in the middle of the fire pit. For rocks and stones, they used candies and gumballs. Hence, both the interior and exterior of the community “ap” looked perfect.

Interior view of the community “ap”

For the second ap, my wife and daughter used Rice Krispy treat and the same white icing for whale bones.

I had rock candies when I was a kid that looked like River pebbles. They didn't taste great but I liked pretending that I could eat rocks, so I suggested to use them. Medium is Rice Krispy treat for this “ap” (obvs, right?).

My attempts at whale bones in icing. This Smallest “ap” is chocolate Bundt cake.

The smallest hut or ap is made up of chocolate Bundt cake coated with mud-colored icing. Again, to enhance the entryway, the icing was used to represent whale bones.

To make the community fire-pit, we used chocolate and gums to represent rocks, red hots and candy corns for burning coals, and Tootsie rolls for the logs. Everything was set in a bed of chocolate cream cheese icing to hold all the pieces in place.

Fire pit with chocolate rocks, red hots and candy corns for coals, and Tootsie Roll logs, all in a bed of chocolate cream cheese icing.

The entire project was made up of edible arrangements except for the florist wire and the fake trees. The oak trees are widely seen in California and were a significant part of the Chumash lifestyle, therefore, it was important to add them to our project.

We had a lot of fun doing this project and it was a very productive and engaging family activity. I urge all parents, especially dads, to take interests in such school projects. Not only do you help your child perform better but it also creates a constructive relationship between parents and children.

Well, here are a few pictures of the final project. As you can see, everything came together beautifully and it actually looks like a Chumash Village! Our efforts paid off. I hope you enjoyed reading about my little creative activity with my wife and daughter and maybe you got some tips and ideas for your kid’s projects.

Remember: Families that make projects together, stay together!

Finished product. Everything is edible except the wire structure and the trees. Yes, the rocks are edible!

A much detailed view of the entire project

Side view of Chumash Village Project

I imagine ‘aps are probably not built this close to the oaks, but we were running out of room, and she really wanted lushness. We also wanted to have a representation of the hugely important role that Oaks and acorns play in Chumash life. We considered adding mosses all around, but opted for the golden grass color.

Top View of the final product