This Cardboard Gingerbread Man is an adorable ornament that kids of all ages can make to hang on the Christmas tree. It’s a great Christmas craft for home, preschool, the classroom or a kids’ Christmas party.
I have another adorable gingerbread man craft to share with you today. My older daycare kids made these cardboard gingerbread man ornaments last week, but they’re easy enough that toddlers and preschoolers can make them if you do the cutting for them.
You’ll also love our Cardboard Sugar Cookie Ornaments and our Cardboard Valentines Cookies.
Printable Template
For these ornaments, we used the same template we used to make our scented sandpaper gingerbread men a few years ago.
CLICK HERE to print off the template if you’d like to use ours (prints two gingerbread men on an 8×11 piece of printer paper).
To keep it simple:
We painted our cardboard, but you could always skip painting them as long as your cardboard is brown.
One of the hooligans also used a creative glue gun technique to make the “icing” on her gingerbread’s arms and legs. I’ll explain that in a minute. Feel free to just use white yarn like my other kids did if you want to keep things simple.
You may also like our decorated cardboard gingerbread house activity.
Supplies:
- Printable gingerbread template (get it here)
- cardboard
- brown paint (2 shades – a light and a dark brown)
- pencil
- Scissors
- black beans (you could use buttons or google eyes)
- white yarn
- glue and/or low-heat glue gun
- buttons
- ribbon
- hanging thread
Instructions:
Time needed: 30 minutes
Cardboard Gingerbread Man Ornament
- Cut Out Ornament
First, you’ll need to cut a gingerbread man out of a piece of cardboard. You can draw yours on free hand and cut it out, or you can print off our template to trace.
- Paint Gingerbread Man
If you’re painting your ornament, go ahead and do that now.
- Poke Hole
Next, use a sharp pencil to poke a hole near the top of the head so you can hang it later.
- Draw Details
When it’s dry, have your child pencil on the details of their gingerbread ornament – eyes, mouth, buttons, icing squiggles etc.
- Glue on Details
Now, glue on the black bean eyes, buttons and bow. My gang used a low heat glue gun for this, but younger children can use liquid glue.
- Alternative Option for Icing Squiggles
For the icing squiggles, you can use white yarn, or, you can use a low-heat glue gun to make the squiggles, and then paint them white with a fine liner paint brush.
- Add a Hanger
Thread a piece of metallic thread through the hole and secure with a knot.
Your adorable cardboard gingerbread man ornament is ready for hanging!
More Gingerbread Crafts for Kids
Be sure to check out the rest of our easy non-candy gingerbread crafts in this post.
Your kids will also love:
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.