Get in the festive spirit with this free printable gingerbread house craft, this cute decoration can be lit up in those dark winter evenings too and we think this is going to make the cutest Christmas ornament!
I love sharing printables for Christmas decorations that you can make with your kids and this paper gingerbread house craft has to be one of my favorites so far.
Download the PDF file and you’ll find our fun design complete with peppermints, lollipops and candy-canes as well as a blank design for you to add your own embellishments.
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Printable Gingerbread House Craft
Making a gingerbread house is a classic Christmas activity but I have to admit that we’ve never quite managed the normal kind made with the cookies themselves, getting the walls to stand up always seems a bit too tricky!
This cute printable craft is a great way to make a gingerbread house without doing any baking and it’s going to look fantastic displayed in your home.
The PDF template contains two different designs, the first one has lots of embellishments on it with candy for you to color and a choice of three gingerbread people.
The second template is a blank outline of the gingerbread house shape so if you’d like to draw on some extra sweets or a Christmas tree you can go for it.
You’ll find step by step instructions below in this post as well as an idea on how you can adapt it to make it easier (and avoid using a craft knife) but as you can see you’ll also find instructions and tips on the printable itself.
Can I Use This As A Gingerbread House Lantern?
Absolutely and I think this would look so cute displayed on your windowsill or mantlepiece.
To use this as a gingerbread house luminary simply lift the lid off the top of your completed house and place an LED tealight inside.
Put the roof lid back on and the light will shine through the doorway.
If you’d like too you can also remove the windows of the gingerbread house using a craft knife while you are making it, there’s a reminder for this on the PDF file itself.
Gingerbread House Craft Material
- 3D Gingerbread house template printed onto white cardstock or paper
- Scissors
- Glue and tape or double sided tape
- Coloring materials – crayons, coloring pencils or colored markers
- Craft knife (see notes below to make this craft without a craft knife)
How To Make a Paper Gingerbread House
Start by choosing which of the gingerbread houses you want to make and printing it out onto white paper or cardstock.
Using cardstock will ensure that your house is more sturdy and is much better if you your kids are likely to be playing with it much or picking it up to look at loads but if all you have at home is white paper then that’s fine – normal printer paper is what I’ve used for my gingerbread house here.
Color in all the parts of your gingerbread house as well as a gingerbread man or woman to have at the front of your home.
Using scissors carefully cut out the separate parts making sure that you also cut the gaps out for the hole for the front door and for in the roof.
Fold along the lines of the house where shown in the printable and also fold along the bottom of the candy canes and gingerbread man.
Next we’ll be making the main body of the house and don’t panic about remembering all of these steps as the printable really does make it easy!
Using tape or glue sick down the tabs on the main part of the gingerbread house so that it’s three sided.
Using the tabs on either side of the back piece of the gingerbread house, stick these into place so that your building now has four sides.
Next we’ll be attaching the building to the base plate, if you are following the instructions below regarding not using a craft knife you can skip this step and move straight onto making your roof.
If you are using the base of the house, carefully cut along the dotted lines using a craft knife, as I’m sure you are aware, this is a step for adults to do not children.
Push the paper tabs from the bottom of the gingerbread house through the base and secure in place underneath it using tape.
Push the tabs for your gingerbread man and candy canes through the holes in the base and also secure these in place using tape.
To make the roof of your gingerbread house fold your cut out gingerbread house roof template so that the sweets are at the top and stick the tab down to hold it in place.
Take the lines of cut out sweets and stick them onto the end of your paper roof as shown.
Finally you can put an LED light into your gingerbread house and put your completed roof onto the top of your house – it’s now ready to display!
How To Make A Gingerbread House Without Using A Craft Knife
I’ll start by saying that I made the gingerbread house in the images without using a craft knife however it isn’t advisable as making the cuts in the base of the template is tricky and you’re at risk of creasing your craft. I want you and your kids to be proud of this craft when you’ve finished it!
Instead I would advise leaving the base off of this craft. Your gingerbread house will still stand up and it still looks really sweet as you can see in the picture below.
Not including the base in this craft makes it quicker to complete and means that kids can do more of the activity themselves without needing adult help.
More Free Printable Christmas Crafts
I love sharing free printable crafts and fun projects for you to do with your kids over the festive period because all of us want this to be a special time that both us and our kids remember but likewise no one wants to spend a fortune doing it if they can avoid it!
We have loads of free printables perfect for the holiday season but these are some of my current favorites, I hope you like them too!
This build an elf craft is one of our newest creative ideas and you can color, cut and paste to make your own cute elf.
This printable snowman card is always popular and there are three different designs that you can download. Because this one is also a 3D craft it will really stand out from the crowd and I think it looks fantastic!
For a simple Christmas activity why not color in these cute penguin themed Christmas gift tags that your kids can attach to gifts for family members.
How To Get Your Free Printable Gingerbread House Template
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