I love watching the creativity kids use when they create their own gingerbread houses. Plus, the teacher in me can’t help but notice the STEM benefits in this festive tradition. But this year, I wanted to add in some writing practice as well. I hope that you enjoy this darling “How to Make a Gingerbread House” FREE writing craftivity.

Simple Prep

Just print the topper and writing pages you need and you are ready to go. Easy Peasy! This craftivity is a free sample of my Winter Writing Craftivities. Each of these craftivities comes with 3 different styles of writing lines, so that you can choose the line style that work best for your writers. The different line options make these writing craftivities usable for different grade levels.

Making the Gingerbread House

This writing activity CAN still be done without building gingerbread houses. But, it sure adds an element of fun and brings their writing to life. I love keeping the houses simple, with graham crackers, colorful candy and icing. Then I enjoy watching their creativity as they come up with their designs and get to work. You can allow them to create their own, or you can have them work in groups for this delicious STEM activity. Remind them to carefully think about each of the important steps they are taking so that they can write about it after.

Here is my recipe for Egg Free Gingerbread Icing:

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tbs light corn syrup

2 tbs milk

(food coloring if desired)

If needed, add a little more milk or powdered sugar to reach your desired consistency. This recipe is not enough for a full class. This will give you enough frosting for a few gingerbread houses, depending on how much they use. I scoop it into seal-able sandwich sized baggies and cut the tip so that they can pipe it onto their gingerbread houses.

Writing Craftivity

Now that your students have made their gingerbread houses, it is time for the writing craftivity. First, have them write a sentence introducing their topic. Then have them think of at least 3 important steps that they took to make their houses. Remind them to use sequencing words like first, next, last, finally…etc. Then have them provide a sense of closure at the end. You can modify these instructions for the age and needs of your writers.

{If you want to have your students edit and revise their writing, simply print off a fresh writing page for them to write their final draft onto.}

Once their writing is complete. Have them decorate their topper. You can choose the art medium used. We usually use crayons, colored pencils, watercolor paints or markers. If using watercolors, I recommend printing on white card stock.

Finally, attach the topper to the top of your writing. If you would like, you can also mount your finished craftivities onto extra large (12″ by 18″) sheets of construction paper.

You can snag this freebie by clicking the “download here” button below.

Here’s a peek at just a few of the Winter Writing Craftivities

There are over 50 writing prompts included in the set. Including holidays around the world craftivities.

These holidays around the world craftivities are perfect to compliment your lessons and allow your students to write about all that they have learned. They would also make an adorable way to display research projects for December.

These writing prompts are perfect to pair with your favorite seasonal stories.

For this craftivity, have your students write about all of their Christmas Eve traditions after reading “The Night Before Christmas.” (Affiliate Link)

I love the book “Mooseltoe” by Margie Palatini. These prompts would be perfect after reading that fun holiday story. Plus, how cute is that moosetache?!

I recommend pairing the “How to Catch the Gingerbread Man” prompt with your favorite version of “The Gingerbread Man” or with the book “Catch That Cookie.”

This page contains affiliate links which means I may receive a small commission from Amazon if you purchase using these links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for supporting this website.

This set is not only filled with tons of Christmas prompts. There are also craftivities for January and February to help keep your students writing all season long. I love pairing this “Somebody Loves You” letter writing craftivity with my very favorite Valentine’s book, “Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch.”

Want writing craftivities for the entire year?

Save big by snagging all of these in the bundle. You save so much it’s like getting a whole season of craftivities for free. With over 100 writing prompts to choose from, you will have tons of easy prep writing craftivities for your students to enjoy.

Just click the photo below to check out the whole bundle.