Every December, a parent opens a school bag and finds a paper ornament with their child's face in the window of a gingerbread house, and that ornament goes on the tree that night and stays there for years. That is the whole point of this craft. It is not a worksheet with a Christmas picture on it. It is a keepsake, and keepsakes are made differently: the sizes have to be right, the photo has to fit, the back has to say who made it and when, and every child has to finish one — including the child who has no photo to bring.
This guide lays out a three-day plan for PreK through 2nd grade, built around a 26-page craft with six house designs, two sizes, three levels of writing and a family photo letter. The Gingerbread House Craft carries the craft: templates, back panels, the photo trim page, candy pieces, gift tags, poem cards and writing pages. Your job is the pacing, the photo logistics and the writing.
The Photo Problem, Solved First
Every photo craft has the same problem, and it is not the coloring. It is the photo. A teacher who starts cutting houses before sorting out the photos ends the week with twenty houses and six photos, and the rest of the class waiting. So the photo work comes first, before day one, and it starts with the family photo letter in the packet.
Send the letter home at least a week before the craft starts. It asks families to send a photo of their child — a school photo, a phone photo, any clear photo of the face — and explains what it is for: a Christmas ornament and parent gift that comes home in December. The letter is the step most teachers skip, and the step that determines whether the craft works. A family with a week's notice sends a photo; a family with a day's notice does not, and then the teacher is printing photos at the last minute or leaving children out.
While the photos come in, print the true-size photo trim page: 4.2 by 3.1 inches for the big houses, 2.2 by 1.6 inches for the minis. The trim boxes are true size, so you can lay a photo on a box and see immediately whether it fits. Cut the photos before day one, not during it. A stack of trimmed photos, sorted by student, is the difference between a session that runs and one that stalls.
Plan for the children without a photo, because there will be some. The Draw Yourself frames come in both sizes, and they are not a consolation prize — they are the same craft with a drawn face instead of a photo, and the child who draws their own face in the window finishes the same ornament as everyone else. Do not make a fuss about which children use the frames. Hand them out the same way you hand out the photos. The whole point of the frames is that no child sits out, and the way to make that true is to treat the frames as normal.
Day One: Choose, Color, Cut
Day one is the choosing and the coloring, and the choosing matters more than it looks. There are six designs — Candy Cane Cottage, Gumdrop Gable, Peppermint Palace, Snowflake Chalet, Cookie Cabin and Lollipop Lodge — and every child should choose their own. Put the six designs on the board and let students pick: a child who chooses their own house cares about it more, and colors it better. If five students choose Peppermint Palace, that is fine. There are six designs, not six assignments.
The two sizes are the next decision, and it is yours, not the students'. The big houses are 7 by 8.6 inches, and they suit a holiday bulletin board or a fridge magnet. The minis are 3.4 by 4.25 inches, and they hang on the tree as ornaments. Big houses make a display; minis make take-home gifts; both make a display and a gift, which is the best outcome — but it takes more time, so decide before day one whether you are doing one size or both. If both, start with the big house on day one and the mini on day two.
Coloring is the main work of day one. The houses are black and white, and the coloring is where the youngest students do their best work. Ask students to color the whole house, edge to edge, because a white patch reads as unfinished — and the ornament will be looked at closely by the child, the family, and everyone who sees the tree. Crayons work well for the big houses; markers for the minis, where the spaces are small. Either way, leave room for the candy: the 25 cut-and-glue pieces go on after the coloring, and a house colored solid has no space for its decorations.
Cutting comes after coloring, and the window is the cut that matters. Each child cuts out the window of their house, and the photo goes behind it. The window cut is the one to supervise: a window cut too big makes the photo fall through, and one cut too small hides the face. Demonstrate it once — cut on the line, slowly, and turn the paper, not the scissors — then walk the room while they cut. Collect the finished houses in a safe place, a tray or a folder with the student's name on it, because a colored house left loose on a desk will be creased by morning.
Day Two: The Photo, the Back Panel and the Candy
Day two is the assembly day, and it starts with the photo. Each child tucks their trimmed photo behind the window, so their face peeks out of the candy cottage. The photo slides between the house front and the matching back panel, like a sandwich, and the back panel holds it in place. Show the sandwich once, in front of the class: house front, photo in the middle, back panel behind. Then let students do their own. The back panel fits every design — one panel, any house — and reads "Made with love by," with lines for the year and age. Those lines matter: a keepsake without a year cannot be dated, and one without a name cannot be placed. Have students write their name, year and age on the back panel before the sandwich is taped shut, because after that the back is hard to write on.
The candy pieces come next — twenty-five cut-and-glue pieces, and the part students enjoy most, because they are the decoration. Let students choose their candy and glue it where they like: on the roof, around the door, along the edges. There is no right arrangement, and a teacher who tries to standardize the candy will spend the session correcting arrangements instead of helping with the assembly. The only rule worth enforcing is the glue rule: a little glue, on the back of the candy, pressed flat. Too much glue slides the piece off and takes the coloring with it.
The minis, if you are making them, are the second half of day two. Four minis fit on a page, and they take the same steps as the big houses — color, cut the window, tuck the small photo, add the mini back panel — but smaller, which means they take longer per inch and need more supervision. Do the minis after the big houses, not before: a student who has already assembled one house knows the steps, and the mini is just the same steps smaller. A student who starts with the mini has to learn the steps on the hardest version.
End day two with the gift tags: six tags in three greetings — Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Season's Greetings — each with a write-in year line. The year line is the detail that makes the tags work every December without an update, and it is worth pointing out to the class: write the year, and the tag is dated forever. Attach a tag to each ornament, and the gift is nearly finished.
Day Three: Writing and the Parent Gift
Day three is the writing day, and it runs at three levels because the class spans PreK to 2nd grade. Level 1 traces and writes "I made a gingerbread house." Level 2 tells First, Next, Last with a word bank and picture boxes. Level 3 writes "If I lived in a gingerbread house..." The levels are tools, not labels. A kindergartner who traces confidently can try a Level 2 sentence. A 2nd grader who is still building confidence can start at Level 2 and move to Level 3. Move students between levels by task, and say so out loud.
Model one sentence on the board. For Level 2, the frame is "First, I ___. Next, I ___. Last, I ___." Fill it in with the class: "First, I colored my house. Next, I cut out the window. Last, I put my photo behind it." Three sentences, three steps, and every student can write their own version by changing the verbs. The word bank is there for the student who needs it, the picture boxes for the student who thinks in pictures first. For Level 3, the prompt is the whole lesson: "If I lived in a gingerbread house..." A student who answers it has to imagine, and imagining is the writing skill the craft is teaching. Let the answers be silly — a house with a candy roof and a gumdrop door is worth living in, and a student who writes about it with enthusiasm has written well.
The parent poem cards are the last piece. Two poem cards, and they go with the gift, not with the writing. A poem card tucked behind the ornament turns a craft into a gift, and a gift with a poem is a gift a parent keeps. Attach the poem card, attach the gift tag, and the ornament is finished. The ornaments go home on day three — timing matters: a craft that goes home the week it is made is one families see while the excitement is fresh, while one that sits in a cupboard until the last day of term arrives after the moment has passed. Send them home on Friday with the poem card and gift tag attached, and let the tree at home do the rest.
What Usually Goes Wrong
The first thing that goes wrong is the photo. A teacher starts the craft without the photos, and half the class has none on day two. The fix is the family photo letter, sent a week early, and the trimming done before day one. If photos are still missing on day two, use the Draw Yourself frames without making a fuss — the frames are the same craft, and the child who draws their face finishes the same ornament.
The second thing that goes wrong is the window cut. A window cut too big lets the photo fall through, and one cut too small hides the face. The fix is a demonstration before the cutting starts, and walking the room while students cut. If a window is cut too big, the fix is a spare house printed and colored quickly — keep three spares printed for exactly this reason.
The third thing that goes wrong is the glue. Too much glue on a candy piece slides it off and smears the coloring. The fix is the same as every other gluing craft: a little glue, on the back of the piece, pressed flat. Demonstrate it once, then walk the room checking that the glue bottles are being used sparingly.
The fourth thing that goes wrong is the back panel. A student tapes the sandwich shut before writing the name, year and age on the back, and then the keepsake has no name on it. The fix is the order: write on the back panel first, then assemble. Say it out loud before the assembly starts, and check the first three panels yourself. A keepsake without a name is a keepsake nobody can place, and the year line is what makes it datable.
The fifth thing that goes wrong is time. Three days sounds like a lot in December, and it is — but the days are short: day one is choosing, coloring and cutting; day two is assembly and candy; day three is writing and sending home. If the week is too full for three days, combine days one and two and do the writing on day three. Do not cut the writing, because the writing is what makes the craft a school project and not just a decoration.
Differentiation Across PreK–2
A craft that spans PreK to 2nd grade needs a plan for the spread, and the three writing levels are the main tool. But the craft itself is leveled too. The big house is the easier version: larger spaces to color, a larger window to cut, a larger photo to place. The mini is the harder version: smaller spaces, a smaller window, a smaller photo. A PreK student who makes a big house has done the craft at the right challenge. A 2nd grader who makes a mini has done it at a harder one. A student who finishes a big house early can make a mini as a stretch, and a student who struggles with the big house should not be given a mini.
For students who need support, the coloring and the candy are the entry points. A student who cannot yet write a sentence can still color a house, cut a window, place a photo and glue candy — and that student has made a keepsake, which is the point of the craft. The writing levels are there for the students who are ready for them, and the tracing level for the student ready for one sentence.
For students who need a stretch, the design-your-own house is the answer. A student who draws their own gingerbread house has to think about what makes a house look like one — the roof, the door, the candy — which is harder than coloring a printed design. A 2nd grader who designs a house and then writes "If I lived in a gingerbread house..." about it has done the craft at the highest level it offers. The Gingerbread House Craft is built for this range: the same house, two sizes, three levels of writing, so a PreK student and a 2nd grader make the same keepsake at the right challenge.
For English learners, the craft is unusually friendly, because most of the work is visual. The words that matter are few — house, window, photo, candy, roof, door — and they can be taught with gestures and examples before the week starts. Put the words on the board with a picture beside each one, and the whole class can follow the instructions.
Buddy Classes, Party Stations and the Bulletin Board
The craft works well as a buddy class activity: older students help younger ones with the window cut and the photo sandwich. Pair a 2nd grader with a PreK student, and let the older student teach the younger one the steps — the older student learns by teaching, and the younger student gets a helper. The writing levels still apply, but the craft becomes a shared project, and the bulletin board shows both grades' houses side by side.
It also works as a holiday party station. Set it up as one station among several, with the houses pre-cut for the youngest students and the candy pieces in a bowl. A station craft needs to be finishable in fifteen minutes, so pre-cut the windows and pre-trim the photos, and let the party guests color, glue candy and write their name on the back panel. The full three-day version is the classroom version; the station version is the party version, and both make the same ornament.
The bulletin board is the display that makes the craft visible to the whole school. Big houses, 7 by 8.6 inches, fit a bulletin board well, and a board full of candy houses with faces in the windows is the kind of display other classes stop to look at. Put the Level 2 and Level 3 writing beside the houses, and the board becomes a writing display as well as a craft display. Take a photograph of the board before the houses go home, because the board will be empty on Monday and the photograph is the record.
Frequently Asked Questions
What grades is the gingerbread house craft for?
PreK through 2nd grade: preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade, with three levels of writing. The big house is the easier version and the mini is the harder one.
What size photo do I need?
4.2 by 3.1 inches for the big houses and 2.2 by 1.6 inches for the minis. A true-size photo trim page shows exactly how big to print and cut each photo. Trim the photos before day one.
What if a child has no photo?
Draw Yourself window frames come in both sizes, so the child draws their own face in the window and finishes the same craft. Send the family photo letter home a week early to keep missing photos few.
How many house designs are there?
Six: Candy Cane Cottage, Gumdrop Gable, Peppermint Palace, Snowflake Chalet, Cookie Cabin and Lollipop Lodge, plus a design-your-own house in both sizes. Every design comes in a big 7 by 8.6 inch size and a mini 3.4 by 4.25 inch size.
How long does the craft take?
Three days: choosing, coloring and cutting; the photo, the back panel and the candy; then writing and sending the ornaments home. If the week is too full, combine days one and two and keep the writing.
Can I use it as a holiday party station?
Yes. Pre-cut the windows and pre-trim the photos, and set the craft up as a fifteen-minute station where guests color, glue candy and write their name on the back panel.
Does it work as a buddy class activity?
Yes. Pair a 2nd grader with a PreK student and let the older student help with the window cut and the photo sandwich. Each student still writes at their own level, and the bulletin board shows both grades' houses side by side.
