Spark Creativity with This Easy Gingerbread Man Craft for Kids!

Bring holiday cheer to life with this easy gingerbread man craft for kids! This fun paper puppet project was a huge hit with the students. They loved bringing their gingerbread cookies to life by creating expressive faces and sliding the paper strokes through their puppets.

Making these charming gingerbread puppets is surprisingly easy and only requires a few basic craft supplies: paper, coloring materials, and scissors. It’s a fun and engaging Christmas activity that will truly spark their creativity! While we added a festive Christmas theme, this engaging craft can easily be adapted for any holiday, season, or classroom topic. We also created a Halloween version with a pumpkin and ghost; check them out here.

These charming Christmas puppets are a beautiful way for kids to explore emotions and enhance their emotional intelligence. I love how this simple paper craft presents emotions clearly and engagingly, sparking joy and gigglesIt’s a fun-filled activity that combines along the way.  learning, creativity, and laughter!

We’ve also put together a comprehensive Christmas puppet craft bundle featuring four engaging puppet templates: a gingerbread man, a Christmas tree, a gnome, and a Christmas stocking. This craft activity is the perfect December craft for a cozy winter afternoon at home. It is excellent for young kids and, with the craft printable, is also perfect for classroom use, preschool, or kindergarten.

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Craft Supplies For Easy Gingerbread Man Craft Craft:

• Christmas puppet printable bundle (optional)
• Brown craft paper
• Black marker
• Colored pencils
• Craft knife and ruler
• Scissor
• Little buttons are optional

Step-By-Step Craft Instructions For Gingerbread Craft:

Step 1: Gather the craft supplies listed and choose whether to create a gingerbread man cookie or a Christmas tree. To simplify things and save on prep time, consider our BIG Christmas puppet bundle, which includes a gingerbread cookie, Christmas tree, stocking, and gnome. All printables are available in vibrant colors, along with coloring pages for added fun!

Step 2: We’ll create an easy gingerbread man craft puppet for this project! Begin by taking some brown craft paper and sketching out a simple gingerbread man shape. To give it some character, make the head slightly larger than the body. We designed ours to stand approximately 17 cm tall, which gives it a nice, manageable size for decorating. See pictures A and B below.

Step 3: To enhance the presentation of emotions, please cut long strips from the same color paper. Each strip should measure 30 cm in length and 3.5 cm in width, equivalent to a letter or A4 paper size. Refer to the paper shapes provided below for guidance.

Step 4: Make two minor cuts with a craft knife in the head of your paper gingerbread man; this is where your stroke with expressions will appear. See picture B above for reference. Make each cut about 4 CM in height (so the stroke fits through). We kept about 3.4 CM in between both cuts. So, I recommend finding the middle of your puppet’s head and measuring 1.7 CM to the left and right, and make two vertical cuts.

Step 5: Let’s get creative and decorate your gingerbread man! We started by outlining our puppet with a black marker, then added a lovely layer of white icing (with a white pencil) tipical for a gingerbread cookie. To add some flair, we sprinkled on some tiny, colorful buttons and finished off with a charming bowtie. Now it looks like a festive treat!

Step 6: On your paper stroke, start by illustrating various expressions for your gingerbread man. Consider a wide range of emotions such as happiness, silliness, laughter, anger, and fear. As you draw, be sure to leave enough space between each expression—around 2.5 cm works well. You can use one stroke with emotions or glue multiple strokes together.

Step 7: Slide your stroke with emotions between the two cuts from the backside. If you pull on one side, the emotions of the gingerbread cookie will appear in the front.

Step 8: If you have a popsicle stick at home, try gluing your gingerbread man on top to create a fun cookie puppet! Your child can hold the stick with one hand, and pull the stroke with emotions with the other hand. It’s a delightful way to engage in storytelling and creativity. Enjoy the fun!

Well done on this easy gingerbread man craft activity! If you enjoyed this Christmas activity, you might also like these cheerful paper Christmas trees created with only one origami paper.

 

 

 

 

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