Graham Cracker Gingerbread House

At our Winter Wonderland party this weekend, we had a gingerbread house decorating activity. Well, OK, we faked it a little because gingerbread can be expensive and difficult to make. It also breaks easily, so the thought of giving it to 10 kids under 6 made me cringe.

Luckily, Double Bubble gumball cartons and Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Cartons make for perfect canvases for easy to make Gingerbread houses.

 

Using a tub of frosting, we attached graham crackers to all 4 sides of the Double Bubble containers and on the slants of the roof. Don’t worry about the part of the box showing – that all will get covered in icing as they add candy to decorate their houses.

We pre-made the blank houses for the kids (though you could certainly make them from scratch WITH the kids) and laid them out on a plastic table runner on the floor. We had muffin tins stuffed with candies (gum drops, sour patch kids, gum balls, gummy life savers, Mike and Ikes, and lemon wedges) within reach off each child. We also staged additional frosting containers and plastic knives for each child to use. Even the 2.5-3 year olds were able to participate easily in the activity.

We also had marshmallows that kids could use to make snow forts and little gingerbread man cookies. We also also added woodland animal cutouts that the kids could add to bring some character to their houses. Since we had put the gingerbread houses on 10″ cake trays, they had lots of room to decorate around the house.

After the kids were finished, we wrapped the houses on the cake trays in plastic bags and tied them with a string to display.

We also added ice cream cones decorated with sprinkles to finish off the woodsy effect.

If you want to get your gingerbread decorators in a festive mood, you could read our favorite gingerbread story, The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School.

 

Looking for more Christmas ideas? Over the next week, 25 bloggers will be sharing their creative ideas with you for recipes, decor, crafts, printables, and holiday traditions. Each day 5 new posts will go live so make sure you come back to check them out! At the end of our 25 Blogs of Christmas, we will be hosting a HUGE giveaway for a $250 Amazon Gift Card!