Art: How to Build a Gingerbread House from Cardboard Holiday Recipe Homeschool Art Lesson

How to make a cardboard gingerbread house and frosting paste

This Homeschool ART journey included a trip to the library where we learned how to make a cardboard gingerbread house that looks like the real thing with ginger/cinnamon paste recipe, and how to make royal icing gingerbread house paste. Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.*

13 Easy Eatable Edible Christmas Craft Activities for Kids

Fun, Easy, Eatable, Edible, Christmas Art and Craft Activities for Kids

We love any kind of eatable, edible art. It's the best after school snack activity for kids. You get to make it, have fun, and eat it too! These 13 easy, seasonal, holiday snack craft activities for Christmas are sure to get your kids in a happy mood. Enjoy!

This post contains Affiliate Links.

13 Easy Eatable Edible Christmas Craft Activities for Kids.

• From Disney Family Fun, these edible sugar plum gum drop penguins are perfect for the scene around your gingerbread house.

Candy Gum Drop Penguins = Edible Art.

• From Family Fun Crafts edible candy cane reindeer are fun to make and fun to eat too. The heads are made from chocolate covered marshmallows.

Reindeer Marshmallow Pops = Things to do with marshmallows.

• Busy Bee's Marshmallow Snowman Sippers are simple to make. Just slide the marshmallows over a straw and decorate with black icing.

Marshmallow Snowman Sippers.

• Edible Crafts shared these adorable and easy to make powdered doughnut snowmen. In our after school program, we used candy corn for the noses and candy dots for the facial features.

Powdered Doughnut Snowman = Edible Craft.

• Edible Stained Glass Ornaments from Kaboose  (no longer exists) are delicious to eat and double as cool Christmas tree decorations. Click the link to go to our recipe for stained glass cookies!

Stained Glass Cookie Ornaments.

• We found these edible cinnamon cookie ornaments at Completely Delicious. There are also non-edible versions which smell wonderful and last for years. Just don't eat them!

• Christmas Yule Log Roll is the perfect Christmas Eve dessert. Make some hot cocoa, start a fire, and slice up your Yule Log Chocolate Cake! We've got the recipe!

How to make an edible Christmas Yule Log Roll Cake.

Edible Cinnamon Scented Cookie Ornament.

• Make an edible sleigh from candy canes like this one from One Hundred Dollars a Month. Keep scrolling to see our similar version with edible passengers!

Edible sleigh from candy canes from One Hundered Dollars a Month.

Make a Cardboard Gingerbread House.

• Waffle Cone Christmas Trees are perfect for landscaping outside your Gingerbread house. Covered in green icing and fun candy, they are also delicious! We found these at She Knows.

Waffle Cone Christmas Trees from She Knows.

• These sugared marshmallow snowmen are also from She Knows. Candy Rollos make cute little hats!

Sugared Marshmallow Snowman from She Knows.

• This snowman in a jar is one of our all time most popular posts. This one is filled with fiber fill, but you can fill it with mini-marshmallows, chocolate candy, and candy corn to make an easy, edible craft for preschoolers.

Snowman in a jar: We filled this with cotton batting, 
but you could use popcorn, marshmallows, or vanilla fudge.

• Stick a small candy cane through the edible marshmallow gingerbread man seen below, and hang him on the Christmas Tree.

Edible Chocolate Marshmallow Gingerbread Man.

• Pop some popcorn, add some waffle cone Christmas trees, a candy cane sleigh, peanut marshmallow snowmen and penguins, and you have the outdoor area at your Gingerbread Land.

The scene outside a Gingerbread House.

• This little peanut is a snowman. To make an edible version, paint with white icing and decorate with gel icing.

This Peanut Marshmallow is a Lapel Pin, but you can 
make and edible version for your Candy Cane Sleigh.

Recommended Reading:

Get Edible Holiday Snack Crafts and Games on Amazon.

Turkey Peanut Butter Balls

More Things to do with Marshmallows from Amazon.

Book: Christmas Made Easy: Recipes, Tips and Edible Gifts for a Stress-Free Holiday

Mayflower Cream Cheese Boats

Gingerbread House: What's outside the window? Penguin and Snowman Peanuts, Popcorn, and Marshmallow Edible Holiday Craft Snack fo Kids

How to make a fun Gingerbread House with Marshmallows and Popcorn and Cute Penguins and Snowmen

Mayhem and I had a yummy, crafty time making this edible Christmas scene with candy cane sleighs and peanut snowmen and penguins. Enjoy!

Marshmallow and popcorn Christmas snow scene.

Candy cane sleigh with holiday characters including
peanut penguin and gingerbread marshmallow man.

 Materials:

  Halloween candy

  Christmas candy

  Popcorn

  Marshmallow shapes

  Unsalted peanuts

  Waffle cones

  Ice cream cones

  Icing

  Edible Glue

  Gel food coloring

Popcorn snow scene.

I made peanut snowmen magnets/pins a few years ago. This prompted me to come up with an edible version for the holiday.  These snowman peanuts are coated with our edible glue, the eyes are Wilton's icing coloring.

How to make a cool Gingerbread house scene.

We glued a cheerio on the bottom of the penguin and snowman to serve as a base. The penguin's hat base is also a cheerio, but the snowman sports a circle cut from Fruit Stripe gum.  The noses are made by dipping a toothpick into gel food-coloring.  Use a pair of scissors to cut the top hat and scarf from gum.

The sleigh is made from two candy canes glued together with icing.  The base is a leftover Almond Joy from Halloween with a big, round gum drop as the back of the seat.  Santa's bag is made from the base of an ice cream cone and filled with jelly beans.  The little mouse atop the sleigh is just a peanut sitting sideways. Did you see that little gingerbread man and those Christmas tree reindeer?  Those are store bought mini-marshmallow shapes.


Recommended Reading:

Best Christmas Party Ever

Bear Stays Up for Christmas Book*






ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Gingerbread Man Marshmallow Activity for Kids fun for Preschool

This cute gingerbread man is one of our many  marshmallow activities for kids

Marshmallows- an inexpensive, yummy way to make fun projects for kids and create eatable art. Search in the browse us bar in the sidebar for more ideas for preschool and sensory play. Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.*

Diy Christmas Gift Bag Ideas

Make Christmas Gift Bags at Home

These gift bags are the perfect things to make at home. Purchase plain bags at deep discount and then do these DIY Christmas Gift Bag Ideas to personalize them for friends and family. Whether you decorate with a Christmas Tree, Santa Claus, Reindeer, Elf, Gingerbread Man or even a Star of David for Hanukkah, these bags are sure to get a smile. Enjoy!

Diy Christmas Gift Bag Ideas to make at home.

DIY Santa Gift Bag Decoration.

For this Santa Claus gift bag, we used an oversize gift tag, sticky stars, and cotton balls. Total Cost is under 25 cents! We bought the tags and bags in bulk.

Gingerbread Man Craft Decoration for a DIY Gift Bag.

This Gingerbread Man is a foam form that came in a pack of 100 different holiday characters. We added glitter glue, mini pom poms, and sticky stars.

DIY Reindeer Gift Bag Idea Craft.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is a cardboard cut out. We bought them in packs of 50 at Michael's. They make great traceable patterns for kids. The tree below is traced from the Christmas Tree pack. We added glitter glue, sticky stars, and mini pom poms.

Christmas Tree Gift Bag Craft Idea.

Trace a Christmas Tree on felt and cut it out, add some glitter glue and sticky starts and then pop on some cottonball snow to make this gift bag decoration.

Recommended:

Christmas Ribbon for Crafts*

Fun Crafts to Make at Home

Make a Cardboard Gingerbread House

Christmas Tree Cards





ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products. *We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Stained Glass Christmas Cookies and Recipe

Stained Glass Christmas Cookie Ornaments Recipe

BEWARE OF KILLER COOKIES! Years ago, I shared an apartment with two other singles: one male, one female. I decided to make stained glass cookie ornaments for the house. Enjoy!

Stained Glass Cookies From Epicurious.com

Christmas came and we decided to deck the halls. The roommates hung lights and put up a tree, while I got crafty. I wanted to try my hand at stained glass cookie ornaments, but took it one step too far and invented stained glass cookie votives. I am nothing if not the Martha Stewart of crafty flops, but these didn't flop! They were a huge success- at least that's what I thought.

I made homemade gingerbread cookie panels (the walls of the traditional house). Then, I took cookie cutters and a cut a window in each panel. I filled the centers with leftover, Grandma candies from Halloween. You know, butterscotch rounds, red cinnamon circles, and lime things. I baked them in the oven until the cookies were done and the candies were squishy, pulled them out, let them cool, then built them into house squares minus the roof.

Creative genius. I put a small votive in the center of each one and placed my work of art as a centerpiece on the table. With the lights off and a fire in the hearth, Christmas had arrived. The flicker pattern from the stained glass was glorious. Finally, I had a crafting home run.

It was Christmas Eve. I was tired. With visions of sugarplums and gingerbread men in my head, I blew out the candle and trumped off to bed. The roommates were equally wooed by the masterpiece. So much, that one felt inclined to move it to the living room end-table to enjoy its splendor.

A few hours later, it smelled as if Santa had come down the chimney and started baking cookies for us. I drifted back to sleep and awoke to the aroma of burnt cookies. A cloud of smoke filled the stairwell. My roommate rushed downstairs to find the couch smoldering, the end-table burnt to a crisp, and a trail of burning carpet. The male roommate had neglected to blow out the candle before going to bed.

We lugged the table and couch outside, pointed fingers, and thanked God that we were alive.

Thank goodness for apartment insurance, the smoke ruined the drapes, carpet, and furniture.You never know when it is your time to go. Who would think that you could die from a cookie incident.

That was a Christmas I will never forget. I wish I had photos of the masterpiece, but these are similar. Here's a recipe for Cookie Ornaments, they won't burn down your house!

Have a Happy and Safe Holiday Baking Season.

Recommended:

The Gingerbread Man*

Best-Ever Cookies: Cookies 'Round the Calendar*

Make Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments







ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Fun Holiday Edible Craft: Cream Cheese Snowman and PBJ Gingerbread Man Toast

Christmas Cream Cheese Sandwich Snacks

This fun, holiday, edible craft is healthier than Christmas Cookies. It is made with cream cheese and food coloring. Add fruit for an after school snack or breakfast your kids will eat. Use your Christmas Cookie Cutters to make holiday shapes with plain, white bread and add food coloring to the cream cheese. Enjoy!

Christmas Cream Cheese Sandwich Snacks: Fun Holiday Edible Craft.

Want your kids to eat? Let them play with their food! We played and made a Toast and Cream Cheese Snowman, Toast with Peanut Butter and Jelly Gingerbread Man, Toast and PBJ 'hamburger' and Cream Cheese Christmas Tree.

Fake Hamburger with PBJ and Bread edible craft.

Cream Cheese Edible Christmas Tree healthier than Cookies Snack.

Just add a drop of food coloring to cream cheese and 'paint' your toast with a plastic knife. You can even paint a tree or snow scene on your toast with our  Edible paint your toast.

This is one of our original, oldest posts from back when flip phones were rad because they had cameras :) For more updated ideas, see below.


Recommended:

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More Edible Art Ideas

Healthy Homemade Snacks You and Your Kids Will Love*








ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

What I did for Christmas: Nativity Play and Easy No Sew Costumes

How to Make Easy, No Sew Nativity Costumes

We made our no sew costumes from the choir robes for our production of the Nativity play at church. Mary, Joseph, three Wise Men, the angels, and the burrow all wore easy, no sew costumes that are easy to make. Enjoy!

Nativity Scene with no sew choir robes for Mary and Joseph.
Little burrow is wearing brown hoodie with ears and tail attached with hot glue.

We made the costumes with what we had on hand,so we used choir robes, altar gowns, hoodies, and pillow cases.

Easy no sew Joseph and Mary costumes from choir robes.

Head coverings are made by wrapping pillow cases (no sew).

The setting was magical. Mayhem wore her fanciest dress.

Nativity Angels no sew choir robe costumes with Christmas garland accents.

The miracle of Jesus must have played a hand. The kids did a fantastic job acting out the nativity play, despite only one performance with the entire cast. The little angels are wearing altar gowns adorned with Christmas garland. Poster board wings are also decorated with gold garland and attached with white ribbon arm straps looped thru two slits in the wing like a backpack strap.

What we do in real life: Outreach to Senior Citizen's Homes. Kids join our Drama Club or take a class and then we present it to real-life audiences spreading a message of  'Good Cheer' all thru the year.

Recommended:

Princess Pirate Costume

Perry the Platypus Costume

How to Make a Gingerbread House

Stained Glass Cookie Ornaments

The Donkey in the Living Room Nativity Set: A Tradition that 
Celebrates the True Meaning of Christmas*

Christmas Is... by Gail Gibbons*











ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

More fun things to do with Marshmallows Activities

Fun Games to Play with Marshmallows for Quiet Time

Here are three children's activities using Marshmallows that are oh so fun for children. Marshmallows are a quick way to steal a few second of quiet time. Kids love them with all their puffy squishy goodness they are fantastic for sensory play. Want to add an element of Messy Play? Just add water or edible paint and make marshmallow prints. 

Marshmallows are the perfect companion for kids quiet time.

Recommended Reading:

Marshmallow Fun for Advent

Gingerbread Marshmallow Man

Marshmallow Game

Marshmallow Mystery (Candy Fairies)

Activities: 10 Fun Things to Make at Home with Kids of all Ages

Stuck Inside on a Snowy or Rainy Day? Make staying at Home with the Kids a fun adventure with these Activities

In this list of 10 fun things to make at home, we've included something for boys, girls, preschooler, and teens. Kids of all ages will enjoy these fun activities to do inside on a rainy or snowy day! Best of all, you don't need a lot of fancy supplies or expert crafting skills.

1. Make a homemade lava lamp minus the light - but grab your flashlight to illuminate it. Click the link above to see a YouTube Tutorial. If you aren't so diy-iee or crafty try this kit from ALEX® Toys - Make your own Lava Lamp at Home.

Make a Lava Lamp at home with a few supplies or use this kit from Alex Toys.

2. Make Homemade Rainbow Slushies at home. Slushes, Slush, Slushy, Icee, whatever you call it - you can make a fun party one at home with popsicles!

Make a slush drink at home for a birthday party.

3. This Gift bag purse can be fun for little girls or teens. Do an extra good job, and it makes a great coin purse. So, for a fun teen birthday party activity recycle the gift bags and make purses for kids.

Girls' Birthday Party activity to make at home.

4. Cardboard Play Kitchen - Save Money and Make your own pretend stove at home.

Make a stove at home with a cardboard box and wrapping paper.

5. Make a Homemade sleeping Mask like this one from Henry Happened.

Want to know how to make a homemade sleeping mask? Click the link above. This is a great activity for a pre-teen or teen girl's birthday party.

6. Make an Art Exhibit at Home How about having a an Art Exhibit at home. Have the kids each draw their favorite cartoon characters and place them on display. This is a fun Art Lesson for Kids.

This is from Bunsella.com Use clay or markers to create your own art exhibit at home. Give the kids ribbons to vote for their favorite entry.

7.Make your own Homemade Bath Crayons at home from Teach Beside Me

See the link above to learn how to make these soap bath crayons from Teach Beside Me blog. The kids will love this fun bath time activity.

8. That reminds me of our Fun Shaped Crayons in Soap/Candy Molds. Crayons are a fun thing to make at home.

Make your own fun shaped crayons at home.

9. Make Mini Cheeseburgers at home to eat after you craft up all of these other ideas!

10. You can make metal butterflies at home using Pop cans. butterflies for Mobile. 

Make metal butterflies like these from Gingerbread and Snowflakes.

More fun things you can make at home

Homemade Doughnuts - you can make your own donuts at home. It is easy, fun, and affordable. We have 3 Doughnut Recipe posts.

Recycled Plastic Bottle Crafts

A secret growing, living garden Playhouse

Weaving wall art for Kids

Recommended Reading:

Things to Make at Home for the home and garden