Gingerbread house for kids
This easy gingerbread house for kids, is a fabulous activity to do over the festive season. This easy recipe also comes with a template.
This easy gingerbread house for kids, is a fabulous activity to do over the festive season.
Making a gingerbread house is a really popular activity to do with kids at Christmas time, and for good reason. There’s something a bit special and fairy tale like about a house made from gingerbread, decorated with lots of sweets, not to mention the delicious smell of ginger when it’s baking in the oven.
You can find lots of ready made kits in the shops but you don’t need to use one of those. This easy recipe, complete with gingerbread house template will take you through each step, showing you how to make your very own homemade gingerbread house. You really don’t need to be very ‘crafty’ or a great baker to make one of these yourself. And it’s much more satisfying making your own, not to mention much tastier when you come to eat it.
If you enjoy making this gingerbread house, you might also like this easy gingerbread men recipe for kids this Christmas.
We used Mary Berry’s gingerbread house recipe for inspiration, but made it a bit easier for kids by amending the windows and adding sweets instead of chocolate for the roof.
How can kids help make this easy gingerbread house?
There are so many steps kids can get involved in with this gingerbread house recipe. From making the gingerbread to helping cut out the templates.
The part we found the hardest was assembling the walls and roof of the house and getting it to stay up. Having a firm royal icing helps with this, but it’s also probably a job for grown ups. You could perhaps get your kids to help hold things steady while the icing sets, but it’s probably not a job for very young children (they’d be more of a hinderance than a help!)
But of course the favourite part, for any child making a gingerbread house is decorating it. Once you’ve used the icing to assemble the walls and roof, your kids can go wild and use sweets and more icing to make the gingerbread house exactly as they want it.
Even very young children, toddlers and preschoolers, will love helping to decorate the gingerbread house. And don’t forget, when it comes to decorating your gingerbread house, more is more!
How long will the gingerbread house keep?
The gingerbread dough can be made a few days in advance and kept in the fridge. Take it out a 10 minutes or so before you want to roll it out, so it can soften a bit.
Once you’ve made the cookie dough walls and roof, the pieces will keep for a few days in an air tight container.
The house, if you make it sturdy enough, can be kept on display for a day or two, so you can make the day before you want to display it. It won’t be as nice to eat, and might lose some structural integrity if you leave it much longer.
Other easy Christmas bakes for kids
Find all of our easy Christmas baking recipes or check out some of our favourite Christmas bakes for kids below.
Christmas tree brownies
Easy mince pie recipe for kids
Easy gingerbread recipe for kids
Lebkuchen
Easy snickerdoodle recipe
Chocolate crinkle cookies
Easy Christmas sugar cookies
Christmas buns
Ginger biscuits
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make these
Digital scales
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Rolling pin
23 x 30cm baking tin
Wooden spoons
Piping bag
Wire rack
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Ingredients
For the gingerbread
350g (3 cups) plain / all-purpose flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 ½ tsp ground ginger
100g butter (1/2 cup)
175g (1 cup) light muscovado sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 large egg
For decoration
4 boiled sweets
2 egg whites
500g (4 cups) icing /confectioners sugar
Sweets – we used 4 normal sized packets of Smarties and one large packet of Jelly Tots.
How to make a gingerbread house
Preheat the oven to 180C / 170C Fan / 350F and line 3 large baking trays with baking paper.
Add the butter and dry ingredients to a bowl
Get your kids to weigh the butter then chop it into small pieces before adding it to a large mixing bowl.
Weigh the flour out and add that to the butter.
Using their fingertips, get your kids to rub the butter in to the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. This is a job my kids always enjoy – it’s a great chance for them to get their hands messy! The idea is to rub and squeeze the butter with your fingertips so it gets coated in the flour, and broken down into small breadcrumb sized pieces.
Measure the sugar, bicarbonate of soda, and ginger and add them to your mixture.
Give everything it a little mix so it is well combined.
Add the wet ingredients
Add the golden syrup to your bowl. I normally either hold the spoon while the kids squeeze in the syrup or vice versa as it’s a lot easier and more accurate than letting them do it all themselves.
Crack the egg into a small bowl before adding it to your mixture. This gives you a chance to remove any rogue shell if it falls in.
Make the gingerbread dough
Finally, mix everything together, at first with a wooden spoon, but then with your hands until the dough comes together in a ball.
If it’s too warm or you want to bake the gingerbread later you can wrap it in clingfilm and pop it in the fridge at this point.
Make the gingerbread house pieces
Sprinkle a little flour down on your work surface and then get your kids to roll out the gingerbread until it is around 4-5 mm thick.
This recipe makes quite a lot of dough, so you might find it easier at first just to use half the dough.
If the dough is sticking to your work surface or rolling pin, you can either add a little extra flour or lay a sheet of baking paper on top or underneath. Don’t forget to rotate your dough 90 degrees after each roll to stop it sticking and to ensure you have a nice even dough.
Lay the Gingerbread house template over the top and help your kids to cut around it. Start with the biggest piece (the roof) to make sure it is easier later. Pop it on one of your prepared baking trays.
Re-roll the left over gingerbread dough and repeat with the other parts of the house.
Create the windows (optional)
You don’t need to do this, but they’re a nice touch. If you want to make some stained glass windows for your house, simply get your kids to bash some boiled sweets (we did a different coloured one for each window) with a rolling pin or a tenderizer until you have a fine powder.
Cut out where you want the windows to be in the walls, and bake the walls as normal. A few minutes before the end of baking, remove the windowed walls from the oven and re-cut the window holes if need be then add the boiled sweets and bake for the remaining time.
Alternatively, you can add the sweets from the start of baking but the window edges may not be as sharp (like ours were).
Bake the gingerbread
Bake the gingerbread in the oven for around 9-12 minutes. It’s ready when it’s coloured a little and has hardened. Don’t leave it in too long or it may become too brittle but equally if it is too soft when it comes out, pop it back in for another minute or so.
Remove it from the oven and leave to cool on the baking trays for a minute before putting it on a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the icing
Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. I normally, do this for the kids by tipping the egg yolk from one half of the shell to another, allowing the white to fall down into a small bowl.
Pop the egg whites in a mixer or large bowl and whisk them until they are light and fluffy.
Weigh the icing sugar and then add it a spoonful at a time to the egg whites. Turn the speed down before you add it or it will go everywhere!
Allow it to mix for a minute or two until it is well combined and you have a nice glossy icing.
Spoon half the icing into a piping bag fittted with a large nozzle and one, fitted with a small star nozzle.
Assemble the gingerbread house
This part of making the gingerbread house I found easier to do without my kids, but older children might be more able to help.
Start with the walls, and using the icing with the large nozzle, pipe icing down one edge then press the two sides together.
Prop them up with a cup if you need to, then repeat with the other walls. Add some extra icing down the join in the middle for extra stability.
Leave the icing to dry for half an hour or so before adding more icing to the top of the walls and adding the roof.
Again, leave it to set for an hour or more to make sure it isn’t going to collapse.
Decorate the gingerbread house
This is one of the best bits for kids to help with. They can really use their imaginations to decide how to decorate their own house. Using the piping bag with the small nozzle, pipe on some icing and decorate it with sweets.
I did all the piping where my kids wanted me to put it, and they added the sweets, but you could let them do it all themselves.
Homemade Gingerbread house for kids templates
To make your own gingerbread house like ours, download our ready made Gingerbread house template.
Gingerbread house
Ingredients
- 350 g (3 cups) plain / all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 ½ tsp ground ginger
- 100 g (½ cup) butter
- 175 g (1 cup) light muscovado sugar
- 4 tbsp golden syrup
- 1 large egg
For decoration
- 4 boiled sweets
- 2 egg whites
- 500 g 4 cups icing /confectioners sugar
- Sweets – we used 4 normal sized packets of Smarties and one large packet of Jelly Tots.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 170C Fan / 350F and line 3 large baking trays with baking paper.
Add the butter and dry ingredients to a bowl
- Weigh the butter then chop it into small pieces before adding it to a large mixing bowl.
- Weigh the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger, and add that to the butter.
- Use your fingertips to rub the butter in to the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Measure the sugar, then add it to your mixture, give it a little mix so it is well combined.
Add the wet ingredients
- Add the golden syrup to your bowl.
- Crack the egg into a small bowl before adding it to your mixture.
Make the gingerbread dough
- Finally, mix everything together, at first with spoons if you like, but then with your hands until the dough comes together in a ball.
Make the gingerbread house pieces
- Sprinkle a little flour down on your work surface and then roll out the gingerbread until it is around 3-4 mm thick.
- Lay the template over the top and cut around it. Pop it on one of your prepared baking trays. (You can find a link to our template in the recipe post).
- Re-roll the left over gingerbread dough and repeat with the other parts of the house.
Create the windows
- If you want to make some stained glass windows for your house, simply bash some boiled sweets (we did a different coloured one for each window) with a rolling pin or a tenderizer until you have a fine powder.
- Cut out where you want the windows to be in the walls, and bake the walls as normal. A few minutes before the end of baking, re move the windowed walls from the oven and re-cut the window holes if need be then add the boiled sweets and bake for the remaining time.
- Alternatively, you can add the sweets from the start of baking but the window edges may not be as sharp (like ours were).
Bake the gingerbread
- Bake the gingerbread in the oven for around 9-12 minutes. It's ready when it's coloured a little and has hardened. Don't leave it in too long or it may become too brittle but equally if it is too soft when it comes out, pop it back in for another minute or so.
- Remove it from the oven and leave to cool on the baking trays for a minute before putting it on a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the icing
- Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. Pop the egg whites in a mixer or large bowl and whisk them until they are light and fluffy.
- Weigh the icing sugar and then add it a spoonful at a time to the egg whites. Turn the speed down before you add it or it will go everywhere!
- Allow it to mix for a minute or two until it is well combined and you have a nice glossy icing.
- Spoon half the icing into a piping bag fittted with a large nozzle and one, fitted with a small star nozzle.
Assemble the gingerbread house
- Start with the walls, and using the icing with the large nozzle, pipe icing down one edge then press the two sides together.
- Prop them up with a cup if you need to, then repeat with the other walls. Add some extra icing down the join in the middle for extra stability.
- Leave the icing to dry for at least half an hour so it has set before adding more icing to the top of the walls and adding the roof.
- Again, leave it to set for an hour or more to make sure it isn't going to collapse.
Decorate the gingerbread house
- Using the piping bag with the small nozzle, pipe on some icing and decorate it with sweets.
- I did, all the piping where my kids wanted me to put it, and they added the sweets, but you could let them do it all themselves.
Video
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Similar recipes
If you like this easy gingerbread house for kids you’ll love our gingerbread men for kids, our Lebkuchen and our other easy Christmas bakes for kids.
I’ve linked this recipe up to #CookBlogShare, hosted by us last week!
This recipe was first published in December 2019 and republished with new images in December 2023.
Esther says
It doesn’t say how much butter!
cookingwithmykids says
thanks for pointing that out. It’s 100g (or half a cup).
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie says
Oh this is so cute! I love how it’s not ‘perfect’. It shows your kids have had lots of fun making it – so much better than the overly perfect ones IMHO! Eb 🙂
cookingwithmykids says
Oh yes, most definitely not perfect, but you’re right, that’s the fun of making it yourself!
Sisley White says
This makes gingerbread house making so much easier than I remember it being when I last tried. Thank you for a great recipe.
cookingwithmykids says
Thanks, yes there’s no need for a ready made kit when you see how to do it yourself.
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
This looks fantastic! I’ve never made a gingerbread house and feel like I’ve missed out. I look forward to making one with my nephew when he is old enough.
cookingwithmykids says
I’d never made a gingerbread house until relatively recently. It’s certainly not something I did when I was little. It’s a great way of occupying kids for a while though.