Free Gingerbread House Activity for Kids
Get students excited about writing with this engaging, no-prep gingerbread house activity. This festive lesson combines art and writing to create a memorable December activity for upper elementary and middle school students. Make sure to download the free printable PDF today!
Learning Objective
By the end of this activity, students will be able to describe the unique design of their gingerbread house in an organized, informative paragraph.
Lesson Overview
This gingerbread house activity for kids is a two-part lesson. First, students design and color a unique gingerbread house, adding festive details like candy canes, lollipops, and peppermints. After that, students write an organized paragraph describing two special features of their house.
Ideas for the Classroom
Reinforce informative writing skills in engaging and flexible ways! Seamlessly integrate this gingerbread house activity into the following:
- Writing workshops
- Literacy centers
- Small group instruction
- Enrichment activities
These options allow you to tailor the activity to fit your classroom needs while keeping students engaged in the writing process.
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
Key Elements of Informative Writing:
☐ Introduce the topic
☐ Provide details and examples
☐ Use transition words
☐ End with a concluding statement
Differentiation
Easily differentiate the gingerbread house activity to meet the needs of all learners in your classroom. Here are some ideas for differentiation:
- Prewriting Graphic Organizer: Create a visual distinction between two unique features of the gingerbread house.
- Paragraph Outline: Provide scaffolding to guide students in structuring their paragraph.
- Close Sentences: Offer close sentences and sentence starters for extra support.
- Anchor Charts: Create informative writing anchor charts for students to reference as needed
- Extend Learning: Challenge students to recreate their gingerbread house design using items they have at home. Students can share pictures and videos of their creations with the class.
Spark creativity and reinforce critical thinking skills with a standards-aligned writing activity your students will LOVE! Download this gingerbread house activity for FREE today!
The included worksheet makes it easy to implement, with both design and writing prompts, plus gingerbread house writing paper for displaying final drafts in writing portfolios or on bulletin boards.
Informative vs. Explanatory vs. Expository
Informative, explanatory, and expository writing share a common goal: to convey information clearly and accurately. These terms are often used interchangeably, but they can have subtle distinctions:
- Informative Writing focuses on presenting facts and details about a specific topic. It aims to educate the reader without including personal opinions.
- Explanatory Writing goes a step further by explaining how or why something works or happens. It often includes step-by-step descriptions or cause-and-effect relationships.
- Expository Writing is a broader category that includes both informative and explanatory writing. Its purpose is to describe, define, or clarify a topic, often in a structured way like essays, articles, or how-to guides.
In practice, these writing types overlap significantly, especially in classroom settings. For example, students writing about their gingerbread house will likely inform (describe features) and explain (reasons for design choices), naturally blending elements of both types of writing.
Word of the Year Project
Inspire students to achieve their goals with this structured One Word activity!
- Encourage a growth mindset.
- Teach students how to set goals.
- Create a motivating classroom display.
✔️ Tested in over 1,500 classrooms!
✏️ “I used this as a New Year’s activity. Students chose their focus word of the year and the pendents are now hanging all over the classroom to remind students of what they want to achieve. Other teachers have even commented on what a great product it produced. Thank you!” -Meridy W.
Click HERE for a detailed description of the Word of the Year project, including student examples.
