How to Make a Cardboard Gingerbread House for Kids

The Artful Parent · 3 years ago · 148 views

How to make a cardboard gingerbread house for kids. This is a fun and easy alternative to a classic holiday craft! During the holiday season, we love to bake and decorate gingerbread houses. But this year, we tried a...

How to make a cardboard gingerbread house for kids. This is a fun and easy alternative to a classic holiday craft!

During the holiday season, we love to bake and decorate gingerbread houses. But this year, we tried a slightly different approach. Using simple materials like cardboard, shaving cream, and white glue, we created cardboard gingerbread houses!

While not as yummy as the edible version, this hands-on project was lots of fun as we decorated the houses with shaving cream “frosting,” added windows and doors, and embellished with colorful details.

Next, I think we’ll add some decorated Christmas trees to our houses, to create a little village!

Photo by Andrea Martelle

How to Make a Cardboard Gingerbread House

MATERIALS

Cardboard (put those Amazon boxes to good use!) White glue Shaving cream Decorative items, like sequins, buttons, beads, and pom poms Sharpies or paint markers (optional) Bowl and spoon

INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare the cardboard houses

To begin, I used an exact-o knife to cut the shapes of a gingerbread house out of cardboard.

cardboard pieces

I glued my house pieces together ahead of time, so they would be sturdy when my kids were decorating.

Alternatively, you can use the shaving cream glue to glue them together as you go.

cardboard houses

Make your shaving cream ‘frosting’

In a bowl, mix equal parts shaving cream and white glue. This will create a fluffy and textured glue for the “frosting” on the gingerbread house.

You can use popsicle sticks or plastic knives to spread the shaving cream frosting or spoon it into baggies and pipe it on.

Decorate the house

Use the shaving cream glue to make decorative patterns on the walls and roof of the gingerbread house. Kids can get creative and make swirls, dots, or zigzags to resemble icing.

We piped the shaving cream glue onto the peak of the roof to look like snow!

adding frosting to cardboard houses

While the glue is still wet, decorate your house with buttons, beads, sequins, or other small decorative items.

frosting cardboard houses

You can also use a sharpie or paint marker to draw decorations and details on.

gingerbread house

Let it dry

Allow the entire gingerbread house to dry completely. Then, display it somewhere special!

Photo by Andrea Martelle

These gingerbread houses may not be edible, but they are super cute! And we had a lot of fun making and decorating them!

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Want even more creative ideas?

Check out our Holiday Creativity pack!

Let’s celebrate the holidays with all things crafty! Here are 53 pages full of our favorite drawing prompts, creative play ideas, art activities, and more!

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