Making gingerbread houses is a holiday staple elementary school staple during the holiday season. It is the perfect activity to accompany a gingerbread man lesson plan or for kids to make at a classroom Christmas party. Teachers and parents don’t have to stress about not having enough time or supplies to let all the kids make and decorate their own gingerbread houses, there are easy steps to take to make the process simple and fun.
The trick to making projects with large groups of children is to have all of the supplies and materials ready and organized. The teacher or classroom parent can coordinate with the other parents to arrange for the supplies to be donated and volunteers can come in the day of the event to help set up, make, and clean up the gingerbread houses. This will ensure that the activity runs smoothly.
Gingerbread House Supplies and Materials
- empty individual size milk cartons that have been cleaned and dried
- royal icing
- white, red, and green frosting
- regular graham crackers and graham cracker sticks
- small plastic non-serrated knives and spoons
- an assortment of candy of different sizes and colors, leftover Halloween candy works well
- coconut shavings
- tubes of writing icing in different colors
- baby wipes
- large heavy duty foam plates
Directions for Making Easy Gingerbread Houses
- Organize the supplies into small containers that can be placed at each table of 4 students. Make sure to include extra knives and spoons at each table.
- Show the students how to use the royal icing to glue the milk carton to the plate. The kids then use the same technique to glue graham cracker walls and a graham cracker stick roof to the carton.
- They use the candy and icing supplies to decorate and personalize their houses. The coconut shavings can be affixed to the plate and house to represent snow.
- After the students have finished their gingerbread houses the adults let them sit out until they have hardened completely.
Ways to Use Gingerbread Houses in the Classroom
Once the gingerbread houses are finished, the students show them to their classmates. The teacher can then send them home for the families to enjoy or keep them in the classroom. If the houses are kept at school they can be used as the focus of a writing lesson. The students can write about how to make a gingerbread house to work on informational writing or practice descriptive writing by using the houses as the setting of a fictional story. The students’ gingerbread houses can also be used as a school fundraiser and auctioned off to the families at a holiday music program or play.
For more holiday themed lesson plans teachers can read the Snowman Glyph Lesson Plan, Easy Christmas Crafts for Primary Kids, and The Polar Express Elementary Lesson Plans.
Megan Sheakoski - Megan Sheakoski is a teacher, mom and writer whose ideas have been featured in college text books, graduate courses, on websites and on ...
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