If you have younger kids and the thought of making and decorating an edible gingerbread house has you wanting to rock in the corner {don't worry, you're not alone, that's exactly how I felt} then try this easy gingerbread house craft activity instead. I promise it's a lot less messy, it won't collapse and there's no sugar high after.
I've also included a free printable template to make the activity even easier to set up if you're a teacher and want to do it as a group activity in the classroom, or are using it at a playgroup or a childcare centre.
The beauty of this activity is there are no rules when it comes to how kids complete the craft, they can decorate it with stamps and stickers however they want, so even though it's a planned craft each child's individual gingerbread house will look unique. It's also a fun craft for toddlers, preschoolers and school kids to do at school or at home.
The finished houses are also really cute to use as a classroom display, hang on an art wall at home, or repurpose as a gift for family or friends.
GINGERBREAD HOUSE DECORATING CRAFT
This craft activity is really easy to put together. I recommend making up the sheets of gingerbread houses before you set up the activity for kids, so everything is ready for them to decorate. If you're doing this activity with a group of children you may find it easier to print off the free gingerbread house template.
You will need:
- Glue
- Brown kraft paper
- White paper
- Brown pen or
- Printable template +
- Christmas stickers
- Christmas stamps
This activity was something I came up with during December when my oldest daughter was 3, because if I'm completely honest, I'd much rather deal with craft mess than cooking mess. It was a great Christmas craft activity that allowed her to be creative and helped improve her fine motor skills.
If you don't already have all the items you need, you should be able to get all of them either from department stores, dollar stores, online at Amazon, or from craft stores like Riot or Spotlight. If you can't find brown kraft paper, or just want to make set up quicker, print off the gingerbread house template {further down in this post}.
You can also add other craft items to decorate the house like pom poms, glitter glue, beads or stick on gems.
HOW TO MAKE AND DECORATE THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE
If you're using the gingerbread house template you can simply print it off and skip steps 1 & 2.
1. Draw a gingerbread house on brown kraft paper. Don't worry you don't need to be Picasso, as you can see from mine, I certainly am not, but it was good enough for a 3yr old. If you're doing this activity with older children, have them draw their own gingerbread house.
2. Cut out the gingerbread house and glue it onto a blank piece of A4 paper. If you're doing this with older kids then they can also help with this step.
3. Give children the gingerbread house, stamps and stickers and allow them to decorate it however they want to.
Using the stamps is a great fine motor workout for kids as they have to pull off the lid and then push down quite firm to get the stamp to appear on the paper. Peeling the stickers off of the backing paper is also an excellent way to use their pincer grip. If you want to make the stickers easier to peel off then remove the sticker outline background from the sticker paper.
If you want to make this activity as mess free as possible I recommend using self inking stamps like we did rather than using an ink pad and stamps. You will still need to supervise though so they don't end up with Christmas stamps all over themselves.
I love how she put the Christmas tree outside of the house because "trees live outside" and I think it's really cute that she put the snowflakes in the sky like it was snowing.
GINGERBREAD HOUSE FREE PRINTABLE TEMPLATE
If you want to do this gingerbread house craft activity with a large number of students, or as a group activity at a playgroup, play date or childcare centre and you want them all to look similar, print out this template instead of hand drawing each gingerbread house.
The gingerbread template comes with 2 pages, one with written instructions Decorate the gingerbread house and one without instructions. You can print as many copies as you need for the activity, however please note this template is for personal and classroom use only.
This printable is for personal and classroom use only. It can not be transferred electronically or uploaded, republished or sold on any platform. If sharing this craft activity please link back to this page.
If your children, or students, loved this gingerbread house activity they'll have loads of fun with my Christmas playdough mats. You can download 4 free Christmas playdough mats here, or purchase my full set of 16 Christmas playdough mats for only a few dollars from my Etsy store.
The playdough mats have been designed to help foster language development and strengthen fine motor skills. The full set also includes a more detailed gingerbread house for children to decorate with playdough or loose parts.
MORE CHRISTMAS CRAFTS
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