DIY Felt Gingerbread House Decorating Toy Tutorial

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Make a felt gingerbread house with this tutorial--it's a three dimensional gingerbread house toy, covered in felt, with felt and yarn "candy" decorations that children can use again and again for mess-free Christmas gingerbread house play.

Collage of felt gingerbread house toy pictures with text reading "DIY felt gingerbread house decorating toy."

Do you love DIY Christmas gifts?  I do.  There's something magical about a gift not just given with thoughtfulness, but MADE with you in mind.    DIY gifts are the theme of the day in the 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop, and I've created a DIY felt gingerbread house decorating toy you can make for any kids in your life.  It's a three dimensional gingerbread house made of felt and cardboard, that children can decorate over and over again.  And you can even keep all the felt candies and gingerbread house decorations stored inside the felt gingerbread house between play sessions!

It's Day 2 and we are sharing DIY Gift Ideas! I'm sharing how to make a DIY felt gingerbread house toy that a child can decorate over and over again.

The roof of the felt gingerbread house even flips up to reveal a storage space for all of the felt candies and gingerbread house decorations.

Little girl decorating a felt gingerbread house toy with felt fake candy decorations.

There's no messy glue for the kids to use--the felt sticks to other felt, even on vertical surfaces!  So the kids can decorate this gingerbread house over and over again.

Felt gingerbread house with the roof flap open, revealing storage for the items used to decorate the felt gingerbread house.

I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking of keeping all of the felt candy decorations inside the gingerbread house toy.

Little girl's hand putting a fake candy cane on a felt gingerbread house.

Materials for DIY Felt Gingerbread House Decorating Toy:

Foam core pieces cut out for the basic form of the felt gingerbread house toy.

Dimensions of the Foam Pieces:

  • Sides (cut 2):  4"x4" squares
  • Roof (cut 2):  6"x12" rectangles
  • Front and back (cut 2): The base is 10" wide.  The side of the house is 4" tall.  The house is 12" tall at the highest point in the center.  Draw a line between the peak at the top of the side and you'll get a sloped roof line that is 9.5" long.

Cut the pieces of the gingerbread house toy out of foam core or cardboard.  I love working with foam core for projects like this, and the best price I've found for it is at my local dollar store.  It's much more expensive in craft stores.

Brown felt and white yarn for covering the felt gingerbread house.

Cut pieces of brown felt to cover both the front and the back of each piece of the foam core gingerbread house.

Front of the Felt Gingerbread House being covered with light brown felt.

The front piece is more generously cut, so I can wrap the fabric around the edges of the foam core pieces.  The back/inside is precisely cut in the same shape as the foam core pieces.

Foam core structure of a gingerbread house covered with brown felt to make a Felt Gingerbread House toy.

Glue the sides, front, back, and bottom of the felt gingerbread house together.

Roof pieces of the Felt Gingerbread House being covered in brown felt.

the roof piece(s) are done slightly differently.  I wanted to create a hinged roof that could open on my toy gingerbread house, so I cut the two roof pieces out of foam-core, but the felt covering both roof pieces is connected at the center.  Glue the roof piece to only one half of the gingerbread house, so the other roof flap can lift up and reveal the treasure trove of felt gingerbread house decorations inside.

Yarn being glued to the Felt Gingerbread House to mimic royal icing.

I also glued fluffy white yarn on my felt gingerbread house to mimic the white royal icing used to hold gingerbread houses together.  It's not a functional, critical step by any means, but it is a nice touch to really emphasize the look of a gingerbread house.

Decorative doors and windows for the Felt Gingerbread House being made out of white yarn and brown felt.

I also made felt door and window decorations with felt and yarn.   They stick to other felt-covered surfaces beautifully.

Fake red and white peppermint candies being made out of pipe cleaners for the Felt Gingerbread House.

Every gingerbread house needs candies, and these pepperminuts made from twisted red and white pipe cleaners are perfect for this felt gingerbread house activity.  The pipe cleaner peppermint swirls stick right to the felt of the gingerbread house toy.

Decorative gumdrops being made for the Felt Gingerbread House.

Other "candies" for the felt gingerbread house were created with a glue gun and some white felt and some glitter.  

Felt Gingerbread House, undecorated, on a snowy photography backdrop.

The plain gingerbread house sits, just waiting to be played with and decorated.

Little girl getting decorations out of a Felt Gingerbread House.

I am a BIG fan of self-contained toys!  Put all the gingerbread house decorations away inside the  toy gingerbread house when you're done.

Little girl decorating a Felt Gingerbread House.

And have fun decorating the gingerbread house over and over again, in completely new ways.

Little girl decorating a Felt Gingerbread House.

What little gingerbread-baker-in-training needs this felt gingerbread house toy?  

Other Gingerbread Crafts and Tutorials You Might Like:

Navigational image leading reader to cardboard gingerbread house Christmas garland.

 
Nicole Wills, creator of Tikkido

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