Gingerbread House Design Project
Get ready to spark creativity and holiday cheer with this fun and engaging gingerbread house project for kids! Perfect for classrooms or family crafting sessions, this activity combines fine motor skill practice, imaginative design, and a touch of patience to create magical gingerbread masterpieces.
It’s time to get out your kid-friendly tools, glitter, gems, cotton balls and paint pens to creat some magical gingerbread houses!
We did this project over three thirty minute periods in Kindergarten, and I’d definitely do it again in future years!
Students practiced their fine motor skills, experimented with elements of design, and used patience and determination to finish their project.
Let’s get started!
There was no better way to get into gingerbread mode, than to read a fun book! We read We’re Going on a Gingerbread Hunt by Anna Membrino, but any of these gingery tales would be a great start to your gingerbread adventure!
After the book, I continued with a simple slideshow to engage students in our new project. You can access this mini-slideshow in the digital section of my FREE Resource Library!
STEP 1: Use Makedo tools to cut the cardboard
We LOVE Makedo tools in our library! These are kid-safe tools for cutting cutboard and making amazing designs and structures. I traced a roof line on each piece of carboard. Then students used the “Fold Roller” to score along the pencil line. (This makes it easier to fold or cut) After this, students used the “Safe Saw” to cut along the scored line to make a pointed roof.
If you want to learn more about using Makedo in your classroom or library, check out this blog post.
STEP 2: Use paint pens for design elements
I bought these white paint pens from Amazon for us to do our gingerbread house designs. If you’ve never used paint pens before, be sure to get them “started” by shaking them and then pushing down on the tip until the paint comes out.
I provided students with some design ideas for the roof, windows and doors to get their creativity going. You can grab a FREE copy of these posters in the printable section of my Resource Library.
STEP 3: Use decorations to beautify the house
Since the top of the roof was rough and jagged from the saw work, we used cotton balls as snow to cover the top of the house. I put glue in a line across the top of the roof, and students stretched cotton balls to cover the area.
After the basic design and snow was done, it was time to add some colourful embellishments! Students used snowflake stickers, gem stickers, dot stickers in random spots, or in a pattern of their own.
To add a little extra sparkle to our house, we added faux snow in small areas. Students told me where they wanted snow, I put glue in those areas, and they gently sprinkled fake snow over the glue lines. (Hint: Put the faux snow on a large tray, and have the students hold their gingerbread house OVER the tray as they sprinkle the snow and then shake off the excess)
What else did we do?
Since our Kindergarten classes have almost 30 students, it wasn’t feasible for all students to make their house at the same time. So, we split the class in half and the other students worked on other engaging gingerbread activities!
The kiddos moved around to a center of choice while they waited for their turn to work on their house. They enjoyed gingerbread look and find, gingerbread cut-outs with Play-doh, and colouring gingerbread bookmarks to take home.
I am excited for you to get busy making a magical Gingerbread House town of your own! If you want to supplement this design project with some writing, coding and SEL activities, be sure to check out the resources below!
Happy designing!
Jenn
