The Christmas season is an exciting time for kids (and adults, too)! Their holiday anticipation is often enhanced by their classroom decorations at school. As a teacher, you have the ability and creativity to decorate your classroom inside and out in a way that joyfully represents the Christmas season! And the outside of the classroom, including the door and hallway, is what students, parents, and fellow teachers first notice as they approach your room. This guide will explain how to decorate a classroom door as a gingerbread house. Three pictures are included in the article.
Last year, I decorated my class door as a gingerbread house, and the students and teachers loved it. I must admit, I got some tips from other teachers. But this decor is so easy to personalize and make your own! (And it’s very cute!)
1. Paper
First, you will need to get brown paper. Your school might provide it, or you may have to purchase it at a teacher store, as I did. The amount, length, and width you choose depends on your own class door, how large you personally want the “house” to be, and the size of the paper rolls at your school or store. I bought three sheets: two for the sides of my door, and one for the roof above the door. Measure your door frame to help you decide the measurements.
To be honest, cutting the paper down to size for the house was not easy for me, even with a yardstick. The sides of the house which go on either sides of the door are not too difficult to measure. However, the roof might cause some difficulty. You will need to decide how tall you want the roof. Mine was limited because of the ceiling. Measure and cut out a triangle, with the two bottom points reaching almost to the ends of the sides of the “house.”
Tape the brown paper to the wall on both sides of the door and the triangle roof above the door. If your door is not brown, you may decide to cover that in brown paper, as well.
2. Icing
Your brown paper gingerbread house needs icing, which is made by white border. Let me share a humorous story that accentuates the fact that I am a new teacher. I had a small bit of white border and knew I would need more for my house. Foolishly, I purchased more at a teacher store. AFTER the Christmas holidays, as I was taking down my cute gingerbread house, I discussed the white border situation with a fellow, more experienced, teacher. She had been in a similar predicament years before when she needed white border. And where did she find it? By flipping over her other borders! The backside of every border is white! No need to purchase more! As you can guess, I felt like an idiot. Oh well, live and learn!
Tape, staple, or hot glue the white border to the edges of the brown paper. You can decide how much or how little to use.
3. House decor/candy
This is the area in which your imagination can really shine! The gingerbread house needs candy. I personally bought a bulletin board set with a gingerbread school house, gingerbread boys and girls, peppermints, and lollipops. I wrote my students names on the gingerbread people and placed them and the schoolhouse on the front of the class door. I used the peppermints and lollipops as candy decor on the side of the house.
I also made my own candy. For the bottom of the house above the floor, I made gumdrops, which were very easy to make. I cut out 6 half circles in colorful construction paper. I happened to have some glitter glue, so I made simple designs to look like “sugar” on the gumdrops.
Another easy candy to make is M & M candy. Cut out colorful circles in whatever size you want. Mine had a diameter of about 5-6″. With a black marker write an “M” or “m” on the candy.
Next, I made Hershey kisses. Using poster board or thin cardboard, draw a Hershey kiss shape (like a rounded triangle) and cut them out. Cut or tear enough aluminum foil to cover the kiss. The shape of the foil does not really matter, as long as it cover the entire kiss. Cover the paper kiss with the foil so that the front side of the kiss is smooth and shiny. You may want to staple the edges, bit it isn’t necessary. Cut out curvy, thin pieces of paper or poster board about 2-4″ long, depending on the size of your kisses. I wrote simple Christmas messages on mine and stapled them to the point of the kisses.
For the roof of the house, I made a peppermint candy out of white poster board. After cutting out a circle, draw curvy lines or swirls, as a peppermint would have. I used a red marker and then traced over them with a silver glitter pen.
Finally, I made a window with a gingerbread man looking out and waving. I made the window with a sheet of yellow construction paper, not cut down. With white construction paper, I measured and cut the white icing frame of the window. After this, I decided how big the gingerbread man should be, cut him out of brown construction paper, drew a face, along with a red nose, and outlined him in glitter glue for “sugar.” First. glue the gingerbread man on the yellow paper so that his face will not be covered by the frame. Secondly, glue the white frame over the man and yellow background. Tape or glue the window to the side of your gingerbread house. You may choose to make more than one window.
I highly recommend to laminate all the candies, except the Hershey kisses. This way, they will be more durable with the children who walk by and want to touch the “candy.”
Once again, make the gingerbread house personal and your own. You may include the students in making candy decorations. There are endless possibilities for gingerbread house decorations. You may also include the gingerbread house theme in your lessons and Christmas activities. So many possibilities come with this classroom decor! Your students and fellow teachers will enjoy it and feel the excitement of the holiday season!