Gingerbread houses have always been one of my favorite parts of the holidays and lucky for me, my daughter enjoys them also! We love to go to Purdue University and look at the displays of hundreds of different gingerbread houses and of course, we like to make our own. My daughter would make 10 a season if she could, but let’s be real- that isn’t happening. So instead of 10, we’ll make one, and then she can play with this Gingerbread House Shape Printable set! She enjoys it just as much!
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This printable set has everything you need to make a mess-free gingerbread house with your kids! There are quite a few different shapes, in different colors. This includes the shape of gumdrops, triangles for trees, rectangles for snow on the roof, and squares for windows. The fun thing about this, though, is that those shapes do not HAVE to be for those elements on the Gingerbread house. Kids can use their creativity to create whatever they would like!
Supplies:
Printer
Cardstock
Scissors
Optional: Laminator
Kids could cut the different shapes out themselves, but there are quite a few. It could get tedious for them, so I helped my daughter with this part.
You don’t have to laminate the pieces and the gingerbread house sheet, but this can help keep the activity safe and usable for time after time. If you don’t have a laminator, you can always just print again when you need another set.
The great thing about this activity is all the pieces are of different shapes. So while your little one is designing the gingerbread house, you can help them explore shapes. How do two shapes together form something new? Do you want ice cream cones on your gingerbread house? Grab a triangle, turn it upside down, and add a circle or gumdrop.
This is also the same for colors. Since we’ve included multiple of each shape, you can create patterns. Just like we did with the red and green gumdrops. We did every other, but you could do 2 red then 1 green or 3 of red then 3 green. You can also switch it up each time too!\
One option, especially for little kids is to put double-sided tape on the back of the shapes. This can help keep it in place while they are designing. This is completely optional, though.
I love that my daughter enjoys making gingerbread houses over and over with this printable set, but it also makes me happy that she is learning so much. Her knowledge of shapes and colors is strengthened as well as fine motor skills. She is encouraged to use her imagination and creativity to create whatever her heart desires that day. This is the perfect holiday season afternoon activity!
