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Play Felt Gingerbread House

November 23, 2015 by Wifeeclectic 45 Comments

I kept telling myself to wait just three more days until Thanksgiving was over to pull out the Christmas crafts, but I couldn’t help it! Christmas crafts are so much fun to make and I LOVE how many of them can involve my kids. In the past, I have made felt Christmas trees for my kiddos, so they can decorate them over and over and leave my tree alone. This year it hit me. Why not do the same thing with a Gingerbread House? My kids were both thrilled when I told them my idea and sat with me the whole time I was making their house. They have had a blast with it.

This house is super easy to make, it took me about a half hour and some basic supplies.

You will need:

  • A Kleenex Box, (Sam’s Club has these cute winter boxes right now!)
  • Felt
  • A Hot Glue Gun
  • A piece of cardboard

 

Empty your tissue box and save the tissues for later, or just wait for one to be empty. It is cold and flu season, I am sure you will end up with a Kleenex Lotion box in no time! Cut a long strip of tan felt. It should be slightly wider than your box and tall enough to go all the way up the sides.

Cut a skinnier strip of tan. It should fit in the space you see above. Hot glue that skinny strip to the box and then hot glue the long strip on the opposite side, folding it around the edges, kind of like a present.

Cut a long strip or white or sparkly white felt and glue around the edge.

Fold your cardboard piece in half, so it creates the roof.

Cover the roof in sparkly white and hot glue a triangle of tan on the edges to complete the house. I didn’t do any gluing on the bottom of the roof, so that it still folds easily for storage.

Fold the felt on the bottom into the opening and hot glue. You don’t want to cover the opening because you want a place to be able to store the pieces.

Using different colors of felt, cut out pieces for your house. I cut a brown door, some white frosted windows, a wreath, some hearts and a tree which I glued little ornament pom-poms to.

I also gave my daughter some pieces of felt and let her cut out a bunch of different shapes to play with to. She had a blast just with a few scraps making little decorations for the house.

Let your kids decorate the house over and over again with the felt pieces and when they are done, just slide them inside the Kleenex box for storage!

When we are down for the count in our house, we count on Kleenex Lotion. It is the only facial tissue I can count on to be soft on little noses when they have to be wiped over and over again. We love to buy them from Sam’s Club because then we always have enough on hand for cold and flu season. Being able to create cute crafts from the boxes is just a bonus!
What would you create from a Kleenex box?

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Filed Under: Christmas, Holidays, Tutorials Tagged With: Arts and Crafts, Christmas, With Kids

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Comments

  1. Melissa {Persnickety Plates} says

    November 23, 2015 at 9:41 pm

    So cute. I'm excited for Christmas crafts, too =)

    Reply
  2. Heather says

    November 23, 2015 at 10:03 pm

    This is a great idea! I love the Christmas craft! We are still trying to finish up some Thanksgiving/Pilgrim/Turkey crafts, but soon we will be moving onto Christmas!

    Reply
  3. Logan Cantrell says

    November 23, 2015 at 10:09 pm

    What an adorable idea! I love this! It is so cute and simple enough even for me! haha

    Reply
  4. Esther Freedman says

    November 23, 2015 at 11:42 pm

    The cutest DIY! Love the concentration while making it πŸ™‚

    Reply
  5. tiarastantrums says

    November 24, 2015 at 1:58 am

    this is so adorable – I have 6 little ones over for Thanksgiving this year and this would go over really well

    Reply
  6. Kadie Arrington says

    November 24, 2015 at 2:51 am

    How cute! I love the gingerbread house, and that you recycled the tissue box. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  7. Healing Tomato says

    November 24, 2015 at 3:10 am

    This is the most creative gingerbread house I have seen. Nice way to use the Kleenex box.

    Reply
  8. Melanie @ bear rabbit bear says

    November 24, 2015 at 3:26 am

    I am such a sucker for cute tissue boxes!

    Reply
  9. Janet Krugel says

    November 24, 2015 at 3:53 am

    I don't think I'll ever get over how creative you are! I love this and my son would love to make one of these.

    Reply
  10. Emily Thompson says

    November 24, 2015 at 5:36 am

    oh that is SOOOO cute! I love felt projects!

    Reply
  11. Lydia Filgueras says

    November 24, 2015 at 10:25 am

    What a cute project! I haven't done a felt craft in ages πŸ™‚

    Reply
  12. Reesa Lewandowski says

    November 24, 2015 at 1:16 pm

    What a great upcycle idea for the kids! So cute!

    Reply
  13. Diana Villa says

    November 24, 2015 at 2:26 pm

    You are so talented! I bet my daughter would love it πŸ™‚

    Reply
  14. Rebecca Brosemer says

    November 24, 2015 at 3:40 pm

    Such a fun winter activity to do with the kiddos and it is recycling too!! Double bonus!!

    Reply
  15. Kiersten Millican says

    November 24, 2015 at 3:45 pm

    These are so cute! And so much less messy than the cookie ones. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  16. Taylor Speikers says

    November 24, 2015 at 4:24 pm

    How cute! I love the idea of using felt, I haven't used felt in years!

    Reply
  17. Susannah says

    November 24, 2015 at 5:56 pm

    This is totally creative and adorable!!! <3

    Reply
  18. Scraps says

    November 24, 2015 at 6:23 pm

    How clever! I know what you mean about trying to wait for the crafts… Earlier this month I had some crafting deadlines to hit for the design team I'm on so I had Halloween decorations still up through most of the house, a Veteran's Day banner hanging up in one room for photographs, and a whole pile of Christmas card samples set up in another! Felt like a department store holiday closeout section πŸ˜‰

    Reply
  19. Tara Settembre says

    November 24, 2015 at 6:51 pm

    That's so clever and resourceful of you. It's adorable too. I've only used empty kleenex boxes to let my boys play with when they were younger, they loved stuffing all their cars in them.

    Reply
  20. Laura O in AK says

    November 24, 2015 at 8:05 pm

    I love this idea for keeping kids occupied in creative play. Plus, it is FAR less mess than making one with icing.

    Reply
  21. Ourfamilyworld says

    November 24, 2015 at 9:04 pm

    What a cute gingerbread house. My girls will have so much fun doing this project.

    Reply
  22. Laura - Eye Candy Creative Studio says

    November 24, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    I am loving this craft – my daughter would love to make one of these πŸ˜‰

    Reply
  23. Heather Gallagher says

    November 24, 2015 at 11:51 pm

    These are adorable – so creative!

    Reply
  24. Jen K says

    November 24, 2015 at 11:54 pm

    This looks like so much fun. My boys would love to do this. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply
  25. Integrated Learning Strategies says

    November 25, 2015 at 12:02 am

    How cute and fun! This is great for the kids and will be perfect for entertaining during the holidays. Great fine motor activity too. Our students will love it!

    Reply
  26. alexandria waning says

    November 25, 2015 at 1:17 am

    Super cute. I love the felt trees, too. My daughter would love that in her room.

    Reply
  27. Erin Shebish says

    November 25, 2015 at 1:28 am

    This is the most adorable project I have seen in forever! Im definitely making these with my kiddos!

    Reply
  28. lexie Willis says

    November 25, 2015 at 2:39 am

    Oh I love these! Fun of a gingerbread house without all the crazy mess and stuff to clean up! Great idea. LifeAsLex

    Reply
  29. Kid Minds says

    November 25, 2015 at 2:56 am

    What cuteness! We have been working on our gingerbread house all weekend. I was going to make a post out of it but my 2-year old broke it before I took pictures. Never let kids play with exhibits until pictures are taken. lol

    Reply
  30. Designitgirl says

    November 25, 2015 at 3:18 am

    What a cute idea.

    Reply
  31. Krystal Butherus says

    November 25, 2015 at 3:40 am

    You did such an amazing job transforming that box into a play house. My son would love to try this activity!

    Reply
  32. Nikka Shae says

    November 25, 2015 at 8:23 am

    What a cute idea!! We decorate one every year!! We might have to try this!!!

    Reply
  33. Kiana Abram says

    November 25, 2015 at 9:28 am

    This is such a cute and creative idea! Great craft for the kids for the holidays.

    Reply
  34. ana de jesus says

    November 25, 2015 at 10:12 am

    Ooh this looks fun I am not very good at arts and crafts but this looks fab

    Reply
  35. Melanie @ bear rabbit bear says

    November 25, 2015 at 3:33 pm

    I love felt crafts! They are so fun!

    Reply
  36. Kids Are A Trip says

    November 25, 2015 at 9:13 pm

    This gingerbread house is so cute! I love the idea of using a tissue box. With all the winter colds, we have plenty of those to spare. We love holiday crafts and I could definitely see us doing this one this year!

    Reply
  37. kristi dominguez says

    November 26, 2015 at 2:51 am

    Super cute! Love that it's made with a box of Kleenex…very practical!

    Reply
  38. JaimeLovesStuff says

    November 26, 2015 at 3:41 am

    You are seriously so creative- I can't even handle it. This gingerbread house is perfection!

    Reply
  39. Emily says

    November 26, 2015 at 4:26 pm

    Looks like a great recycling craft to do with kids! Love it!

    Reply
  40. Cathy Mini says

    November 27, 2015 at 3:16 am

    Such a cute idea!! I bet my cousins would have a blast playing with this felt gingerbread house set!

    Reply
  41. Teresa B says

    November 30, 2015 at 3:42 pm

    I love this idea. This year I tried to make real gingerbread houses with the kids and it was a disaster…Maybe this felt version will do the trick. Plus, I love working with felt. Thank you for sharing!

    If you have time, I would love for you to share this post over at the Holidays Celebration link party that is live right now! It's such a neat idea, I'm sure our readers would love it too! (http://keepingitrreal.blogspot.pt/2015/11/holidays-celebration-link-party-3-is.html)

    Reply
  42. Melissa French - The More With Less Mom says

    December 1, 2015 at 11:03 pm

    What a great idea for a quick toy! Thanks for posting. Hello from Motivation Monday.

    Reply
  43. Momi Glenz says

    December 6, 2015 at 2:05 pm

    Great idea! thanks for sharing

    Reply
  44. Jamie Sanders says

    December 6, 2015 at 3:17 pm

    So creative!

    Reply
  45. Danita Carr says

    December 7, 2015 at 12:34 am

    Cute idea and so much less messy than a real gingerbread house.

    Reply

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Welcome to Housewife Eclectic

Debra Hawkins - Housewife EclecticHi, I'm Debra. I am a craftaholic photographer married to a web-programming amateur chef with two sassy littles keeping it interesting. It gets crazy around here. Read More…

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