Check out this Awesome Christmas Themed Escape Room Activity – Lesson Plans

One holiday tradition that I still do with my teenage daughter, even though we’ve never had a lot of holiday traditions, is decorating a gingerbread house. We use a kit rather than making gingerbread from scratch, and sometimes have a friend over to decorate with us. It’s always a lot of fun and then we keep the house on display for a few weeks as part of our holiday decor. 

If you want to do gingerbread houses without the mess, or you’re looking for a holiday classroom craft that doesn’t involve food, these gingerbread houses made from paper bags are a great option. 

This comes from The Best Ideas for Kids, and the post includes printables (free when you enter your email) that kids can color, cut out and add to the bag to make a gingerbread house all their own. 

Of course you could also start kids off with basic shapes like circles, squares and rectangles and have them draw their own windows, doors and roofs if you want. 

The printables also include things like giant lollipops and candy canes as well as smaller candies and Christmas trees that can be used to decorate the houses. There are three options for windows, doors and roof lines that you can mix up to make a bunch of different houses. 

This would be a fun activity to do in the classroom and see how different kids decorate their gingerbread houses (and they’re a great decoration for the classroom, too). Or you can make them at home and use them for decoration on the holiday table or elsewhere. 

Head to The Best Ideas for Kids to grab the printables and make this easy holiday craft for kids today.

Do you like to decorate gingerbread houses or is this paper version more your speed? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo: The Best Ideas for Kids] Check out the kids craft section on Craftbits.com