Gingerbread Men are a symbol of the holidays. Here’s a beautiful way to create your very own DIY Stained Glass Gingerbread House Ornament with your child with plastic crystal beads.
So easy to make to add to your Christmas Tree this holiday season.
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How to Make Pretend Stained Glass Gingerbread Man Ornament for Kids
Do you have a favorite Gingerbread story? Jan Brett has illustrated a beautiful book with one very special baby gingerbread man called Gingerbread Baby. At the end of the book the little boy bakes a Gingerbread House to capture the Gingerbread baby. I love that it focuses on problem solving.
We decided to create our very house Gingerbread House ornament for a special baby Gingerbread. You are going to be surprised with how easy it is to make!
Gingerbread Baby
First we started our project by reading the story Gingerbread Baby. Part of the fun in this ornament is having the baby Gingerbread Man inside the house which is an unexpected part of the story.
Be sure to also read a few Gingerbread Man stories too this holiday season. We had fun comparing and contrasting them. Here’s the book!
DIY Stained Glass Gingerbread House Ornament
Create your very own Gingerbread House with your child this holiday season with just a few simple supplies. We actually used some leftover crystals from previous SunCatcher projects.
Materials
- 2 Pipe cleaners
- Baking Crystals for Suncatchers
- Gingerbread Cookie Cutter
- Baking Sheet
- Aluminium Foil
Gingerbread Family Cookie Cutter Set
Directions
1. Use two Pipe Cleaners for form a Gingerbread House. If you have an older child you could have them create their own more intricate design. I made this one with my 4 year old.
2. PLAY: Allow your child to play and experience the crystal beads for a little bit before you need them to carefully place them on the house. We used a plastic tray to play with ours.
3. Place the Gingerbread House and Gingerbread baby on a baking sheet with aluminum foil covering it. During the process be careful not to move the house of the crystals will get displaced.
4. Encourage your child to fill in all of the house with the crystal beads. Be sure to not leave any gaps. This is an area that an older child can get more detailed with. Have fun with it there’s no wrong way to fill it in!
5. Bake the ornament in the oven. We baked our Gingerbread House at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Then allow to cool. The metal Gingerbread baby cookie cutter will pop out once it cools.
{Use your own desecration when baking plastic in your own oven and follow package directions for safety}
6. We attached a shortened pipe cleaner at the top to make a hood to hang on our Christmas tree to enjoy.
My daughter is so excited about her Gingerbread House that she created with Mommy. Coming up next is our Stained Glass Gingerbread baby! Until then check out all of these adorable Gingerbread activities we have at The Educators’ Spin On It!
Additional Gingerbread Man Activities for Kids
- Gingerbread Man Gift Wrap
- Life Size Gingerbread House for Kids
- DIY Gingerbread Man Ornament
- 50+ Gingerbread Activities for Kids
- Personalized Gingerbread Man Craft
- Gingerbread Pear Crumble
- Gingerbread Pancakes
- Gingerbread Man Books
- Fingerprint Gingerbread Man Ornament
10 Days of Kid Made Ornaments hosted by Mama Miss with over 70 bloggers sharing Handmade Ornament Ideas this holiday season. The BONUS is that all of the ornaments are connected with books!
Click here to go see all the other creative ornament ideas for kids to make!
We just read this book today in co-op – definitely adding it to our to-make list – so fun!!!
Oh, it is so pretty in the light! Great idea!
This is one of our favorite books and this ornament is sooo cute!
What size is the cookie cutter? Is there some place to order the baking crystals by bulk?
We used the baby from Gingerbread Cookie cutter set I linked in the materials Jody which is around 2 inches. http://amzn.to/2gPDsj8 I have yet to find a way to buy these beads in bulk. Would love to do this with my daughters Kindergarten class at school if I can find them. I’ll keep searching and share when I do.
Just want to make sure I was reading this correctly, can I put pipe cleaners in the oven? Wouldn’t the fuzzy part of the pipe cleaner have the risk of a fire?
You could use your outdoor grill with a metal tray if you are concerned with using these materials in your oven.I agree there is an element of safety to consider with non food items.