How to build a walk in gingerbread house for kids from a Fort Magic kit! Fun ideas and inspiration to make your own Christmas fort.
The kids are excited that we have a walk in gingerbread house in our living room.
They made it in an evening from our Fort Magic kit—I’ll include a fun video below—and then we decorated it together with fabric, felt candies, lights, and tulle ribbon icing. I think Daphne and her friend Emily, the two 7-year-olds, were ready to move in at the end of the evening.
I’ll show you the details, but first, I wanted to say thank you to Fort Magic for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.
We’ve made so many different forts and structures with our Fort Magic kit over the years and I’ve shared some of them here on The Artful Parent. I know that many of you have since purchased a Fort Magic kit for yourself your kids.
If you have one, you can follow along and make a walk-in gingerbread house yourself. And if you don’t, I’ll give you the details about where to buy this seriously awesome open-ended fort kit, as well as a chance to win one for yourself your kids.
How to Build A Walk In Gingerbread House from a Fort Kit
MATERIALS
- 1 Fort Magic Kit (we actually used less than 1/2 of the kit pieces)
- 5 yards tan or brown fabric (I bought tan flannel that was on sale for half-off)
- A white flannel sheet
- Christmas lights
- A roll of red tulle or other ribbon
- 1/2 yard each of red and green felt
- White felt (optional)
- Glue gun
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Build a basic house with the fort kit
The kids followed the instructions for the Playhouse in the idea booklet that came with the kit.
Here’s a fun (speeded up) video of the house being built by the kids. Maia got it started. When Daphne and Emily came home from school they joined in, then took over when Maia left for gymnastics.
Step 2: Cover the Gingerbread House
Next, wrap the tan fabric around the outside walls of the house, clipping them into place with the fabric clips. These are your gingerbread walls!
Drape the white sheet over the roof for the icing covered roof, clipping it into place.
Now it’s time to decorate your gingerbread house!
Step 3: Decorate your walk in gingerbread house
Clip a string of Christmas lights around the roof line. These provide beautiful light and can also double as little candies.
Cut candy shapes from your felt. We had a few candy canes and Christmas corn but mostly cut out circle candies that would work as gumdrops, M&Ms, lollipops, etc. With the extra scraps, we made sprinkles.
The felt candies will stick to the sloped flannel roof by themselves, so start there.
I thought they would stick to the walls of the house, too, like a flannel board or felt board, and they sort of did, but also many of them eventually fell off the walls. So… For the candies on the sides of the house, I added a dab of glue from the hot glue gun to the center of each candy one at a time, and stuck them to the walls.
If you like, string tulle ribbon along the edges of the fort for a line of decorative icing. I didn’t have to clip this in place but rather just wrapped it around the connector pieces at the corners.
Step 4: Make a Felt Wreath
(Optional, but a nice addition.)
To make the felt wreath, cut of a circle of green felt a bit larger than the circle window at the front of the gingerbread house. Clip it in place at the top and do any trimming needed. Use the clips to wrap the felt around the outside of the pipe structure and hold it in place.
Cut the center of your wreath out.
Now, cut out a ribbon from the red felt. I drew one first with a Sharpie marker which made it easier. Affix it to the wreath with a dab from the glue gun.
Step 5: Decorate Some More
Add any other decorations you feel your gingerbread house needs.
- A candy floor?
- Real candy taped to the walls? (Daphne raided her Halloween stash for this idea)
- Pillows? (the kids made these with paper, staples, and pompoms)
- A sign?
- A rug or furniture?
- Gingerbread boys and girls?
- A mini Christmas tree?
- Candy canes?
Now you have a walk in gingerbread house to play in for the rest of the holiday season!
Besides acting out any pretend play scenarios, this is a good place to read Christmas books, play Candy Land, wrap gifts, listen to music, take naps, hide…
If you have a Fort Magic kit already, give this walk-in gingerbread house a try!
If you don’t, but want one, you can buy a kit on Amazon or from the Fort Magic shop. They are not cheap but they are worth every penny. This is a sturdy, well-made fort kit that can be used many, many different ways, inside and out. It will last for years and grow with your kids. I recommend them to all my friends. Obviously I’m a big fan.
*This post is sponsored by Fort Magic. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.
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We would LOVE to win this. We would build a car fort!! ? ?
Super fun!
My kindergarten class would love this so much! They’d enjoy making all the different designs, and many more of their own. I particularly love the tower and tunnel fort from the website.
My kids would immediately build a doghouse for not only our dog, but for them! ;)
Oh wow. Our five kiddos would love this. We’d start with an art museum to display things made in our art center!
I think first order of business would have to be a rocket ship! :D
This is awesome! I can see my boys building all kinds of forts and hideaways with this! Space ships, grocery stores, schools, doctor’s offices! So many things! Fingers crossed we win!!
I think my daughter would build an animal hospital
My boys would love this! They love building tents out of furniture but this would be taking it to a different level.
Thus is SUCH a great idea! I hope we win because this would be so much fun to put up this Christmas!
I’ve had my eye on this! I think my kids would have lots of different ideas but in the end I bet it would get used as a little library the most.
What a sweet house! We would love to have this for use in our small condo. I love how modular and creative it is!
My daughter would love to build the race car!
My family did something like this with PVC pipes when I was little… so fun! Would love to add one to our home.
Oh wow – I think my littlest colleagues would try all of the builds (river boat and paddle??) though it will likely be used as a reading hut in any form. :). Thank you for the chance to win one! Saw it used as a “stained glass” painting house on their FB page. My summer art group would definitely have to try that out!
We’d build the castle for sure, and sleep over tents!
We are crossing our fingers! I’m sure the first thing my girls would want to build is a playhouse! :-)
We would definitely start with this submarine. So, so fun!
This is awesome. Forget about the kids- I think this has me drooling!
We would have a blast with all outdoor ideas such as tents, tepees, canoe. Maybe even try a pretend treehouse! Thanks for this opportunity.
I would build a rocket for my three kids
This gingerbread house is to die for! We have our own “Elf Shop” going right now with some chairs and sheets and lights. I think the playhouse or a castle would be our first build with Fort Magic!
Oh how fun!
this would be a huge blessing if we won, but our four little girls would want to make a castle.
We love the tower and tunnels. I would think (hope) after building a few things following the ideas, that the kids would start understanding the construction and begin to design their own play structures. That would be great to see them work together and problem solve!
We would try everything they show and then try to make up some ideas of our own. The standard tents look so cozy to read in!
my son would sooooooo love that! especially making a gingerbread house!!
This looks like such a neat toy! I think my kids would love to build and climb in the tower and tunnels! Thank you so much for the chance to win. Your gingerbread house turned out so adorable!
Such a cute idea!! I think we would build a castle for my daughter to play princesses in! :)
Love, love, love!!!
We have tried other Fort building kits, but this looks amazing! Our boys are into trains, so my guess is the first thing we’d attempt is a train station or a train shed!!!
my son would to build a race car or trains station
Me and my 4 and 5 year old just stumbled upon some wooden teepees out in the woods today. So I think we might start with the teepee design. My five year old son who can’t move on to the next thing fast enough would probably quickly design the race car. Then while he is at school, my daughter would want to build the airplane because she loves pretending to be a bird soaring around. Fort Magic looks so fun!!
I think we would go with a log cabin in the woods.
My son would first build a reading fort, but when his friends come over it would turn into a Nerf fort!
This is awesome! I would definitely want to build the tower and tunnels structure for my kid; he’d love it!
I’d build my daughter the for magic castle.
I love this! We have wanted to try this for years :). I think it would be a wonderful way to add dramatic play to their homeschool interests.
love this!
Forts are the best! We’d build a new fort every month or so. This is amazing!
My girls would love this! We would build ones to go along with each holiday and books we are reading!
My kids and I would probably build a lion house. To keep all our stuffed lions in.
My daughter would definitely make a space ship. She loves space and is always building rockets out of blocks. She’d love this set!
Love the gingerbread house! I think my children would also love the tower & tunnels. This is such a great toy!
My son really has been wanting to make a igloo! This would be perfect!!!
I would build a rocket ship with my kids with fort magic!
oh my goodness the forts we could build? It would change daily I would think!!
My three littles will make a wild cat den! I will have to get some fun fabric to cover it in!
My twins would love this! But I think there will be stiff competition between the airplane (my son’s choice) or the sleepover tents (my daughter loves camping).
I would love to win this!!!! My daughter would be all over making a pirate ship or princess castle!!!
We would definitely do the rocket first! …no, the race car! …no, wait, the castle! :-P
My girls would want to build a castle with the pieces. They are all about princesses these days. :)
We would build a Mars rover!!
We’d probably start by making a house, basic I know, but a great place to hideaway.
Definitely a zoo for all our stuffed animals!
Would love to build a race car! :)
I would love to build the riverboat with my children!
I would build a restaurant with my nephews!!!
My daughters want to build tunnels all around our house!
My daughter and I would build a horse and carriage.
Ok thanks again Jean for always sharing the magic you and your family create with the Fort Magic kits! I would say we’d build the tee pee fishing pole and small boat –my 7 year old is beginning to wonder about her heritage which is part Native Indian! It would be so cool for her to have that full experience! Also, if we won I think I’d build a wee Igloo and have it set up for Christmas morning!!! Merry Christmas Jean and Girls
We would just enjoy making forts.
We have been eyeing this set for our girls so this giveaway is timely. Thank you For the opportunity!
I, I mean we would definitely build a submarine. My Star Wars fan saw that someone had built a Death Star and a tie-fighter with their Fort Magic kit so we would definitely have to try those as well!!
We would love to build tents and a canoe! We usually pretend to canoe on the bed… but my kids would love something that is a bit more accurate : )
My daughter would love to build the playhouse and my son would love to build the car. I look forward to seeing what ideas the kids would come up with too. Building forts out of blankets and pillows was one of my favorite things to do as a kid. I hope my kids will have fond memories of their creations too.
We would build the Villa! Plus try to build an RV or trailer for camping!
This is so cool! I think the first thing my family would build would be a “pup house” as the kiddos are huge PAW Patrol fans and like to role-play the characters.
Very creative! Love the gingerbread house. What fun it must have been to watch it evolve and think of the possibilities. Fort Magic would make a really fun gift for my four little boys. Thank you for the chance to win.
This looks amazing ! With so many great choices it’s hard to choose one but I think I like the castle best, or car, or sleep over tent… so many !
This kit looks amazing! My son would love constructing a rocket!
How fun! My girls are always creating…I think they would really love the house and car.
The canoe!!
My kids make forts out of everything! This kit would be awesome and would mean my couch doesn’t get torn apart all the time. ;-)
All children love their own space and hide-a-way. What a wonderful way to give them just that. Just praying to win.
Wow, this is beautiful! My girls would love this, I can see them building a magical castle :)
So fun! We would build Santa’s workshop!
We would build Santas workshop!
I imagine my kiddos building rockets, houses, caves, castles and more with this kit. Looks like so much fun :)
My couisins would love to build a rocket ship. Know they would love this.
My son would love the submarine because he is into Octoanauts right now.
I would build the playhouse and ship. I only saw the fort building kit though. It is such a great building set!
We would probably start with a fairy house!
My boys would definitely build a rocket!
Thank you for showing us the gingerbread house, so perfect for the holidays! The kids can see yours idea and imagine so many more ways to use the Fort Magic Kit.
This is amazing! I’m pretty sure my daughters would want a playhouse/animal hospital/doctor’s office and my son, while also a big fan of all those things, would love one of the cars!
my boys are really loving Star Wars, so we’d have to build the spaceships
I think the rocket ship is pretty cool.
My mind is officially blown with all those designs! I love the horse and carriage but I’d let my kids go bananas with their own design! I love that you can curve them, amazeballs!
Wow I’m so excited to try this with the kids for my architecture camp…
My boys would LOVE this! I love that the Fort Magic website shows you how to build all kinds of different designs – we would probably build the ship first!
We would build a rocket ship.
We have a pilot in the family so we would definitely build the airplane!!!! Marvelous! I would be over the moon to win this!
We want to build the submarine!
We’d make the sleepover tents, my kids are obsessed with that type of play
What a great giveaway. I always love your fort posts. My kids would build a rocket ship I’m sure!
I am definitely getting this for my kiddos. Thanks for sharing it!
Love this! We’ve done small cardboard gingerbread houses but this is awesome!
Building a Gingerbread House sounds so fun. I would love to do that with my daughters.
This is amazing, what a great giveaway! My kids would love to build so many of these ideas…love the plane and ship designs though!
Bought this for our best family friends who have 3 girls. Can’t wait to see what they create when we all get together for Christmas!
A rocket or gingerbread house! So cute!
What a great idea!
My kids are all about forts. This would get used!
I would build a castle!
The kids would love to win this!! We would build a space ship first but then we would enjoy making all kinds of designs.
Rocket first!
We would build the horse and carriage, or anything with tunnels!
These kits are so cute!
I would build a rocket!
My boy is obsessed with making every item in our house into a space rocket, including today his socks and hands! So it would have to be a space rocket for sure!
My son would love building a rocket ship.
I’d start with the playhouse. It would be days and days of fun for two young siblings and their friends. :)
My daughters and I would build a bear cave, and create a warm, cozy space for reading.
The gingerbread house looks amazing. My girls would love to build a castle first.
Great giveaway! My kids would want to build so many things, but would probably start with the riverboat and paddle!
We would create a vet clinic!
Love this! The kids would definitely build a spy fort! “Spy” is the hot game in our house right.
i love that gingerbread house idea!!
We would start with something simple….my 2 year old would love this!
My son would love to build the race car or truck. What a cool kit!
What a neat idea!
My daughter would build a “school” . Fun!
We’d make an igloo and drink some cocoa!
Oh this would be so perfect for my kindergarten class! I think first on the list would be an igloo or a castle but I’d love to see what they could make themselves!
Hi, I hope I am right here for the contest. I am from Germany and we do not have this here, so we would build a castle and show it to the friends of my boys.
I would love to build Hogwarts!
A walk-in gingerbread house would be so sweet and magical!!
A playhouse, for sure.
My girls would LOVE this! I think they would build a store, or a vetinarian clinic.
My little one would love to build Fairy Land with the Fort Magic Kit. I’m not exactly sure how she would do that, but Fairy Land is magical, so I’m sure it all works out. Thanks for the opportunity to enter this wonderful drawing.
Endless possibilities! We’d build a spaceship or submarine first!!
Love this- a little bit of engineering, a little bit of art, and lots of imagination! I just asked my four year old what she would build and she said, “An elf workshop so I can build presents for all my friends… with a hammer and glue!”
We would love to build a marzipan castle from The land of the sweets!
I love the riverboat! So creative! My girls would love this!
We would build the tower and tunnels. My son would have a blast!
Tower and Tunnels looks like so much fun.
We would make the teepee, canoe, and fishing pole…though I’m sure the carriage and horse one would also get made!
My Bous would LOVE this!!!!
My daughter loves fort-building and gets frustrated with the lack of materials on hand to build her dream creations. She would have so much fun with this!
I would absolutely LOVE to win a fort magic kit! My kids would build a rocket ship!
We would build the teepee, canoe and fishing pole so we could go fishing when it’s too rough outside, then eat our fish in the teepee for lunch!
My girls would love this!
This is amazing, there are so many options but my 3 loved The rocket the best, the big ones are space crazy!
My daughter is very creative and we’re entering a phase were she needs more open-ended toys. I’d love for her to learn how to build the tower and tunnels.
We would build a play house or the princess carriage
My 2 would love this! We would build a truck (or a tractor)!
This would be so much fun! My boys love building forts!
Oh this would be so cool! I think the rocket ship would be a popular choice around here!
My family would love to build castles and caves with a Magic Fort kit, and the gingerbread house idea is so awesome.
We’d build the submarine for all our imaginary undersea adventures! I think pretty much all of the ideas would be built.
So fun, the possibilities are endless. I am sure we would build Santa’s house – and probably an octopod to start!
Looks like hours of fun for the children.
We will use for outdoor and indoor forts! How fun!
A sweet little reading nook with lights.
This is amazing. My girls and I would LOVE this project!!!
What a great idea! Kids will love it!
Looks like so much fun!
We would love to win this! How fun!! My boys and I would build a firehouse.
I’d build a submarine! We love the ocean creatures.
I would build a submarine :)
I think a rocket ship!
My daughter would love to build the castle!
We’d love to build the tower and tunnels!!!
We are BIG fort builder in our house– spaceships, caves, igloos. But up until now we have just been really creative with blankets, pillows and chairs.
I would try the Eiffel Tower and other famous buildings with my class of pre-kiddies. This would be perfect for our building unit! Thanks!
I would build an obstacle course with the Fort Magic, but it seems the options are endless (food truck, grocery store, castle, comic book shop, etc). How wonderful and fun!
Building forts sound fun! We would love to build the car and tower.
My daughter and I would definitely build a castle! She would be so excited!
Love it!
We would definitely start with the fort and tunnels! We love pretending to be in caves and always have a back exit. This one is perfect for us to be bats, dragons, and so much more! Love this!
The tower and tunnels plan is my favorite, but I suspect the most fun would be to see what the kids make on their own. My two get along best when making couch cushion forts, but it’s also nice that this set is big enough to be divided into two forts for when the kids need time alone!
We would act out all the things we’re learning in history. How fun to make castles and forts and tents.
Oh my kiddos would have hours of fun with this! My guess is a princess castle, or perhaps a fire station although they’d probably suprise me with something totally off my radar:)
My kiddos would be lost in this for hours, so fun! Princess castle or fire station? The possibilities are endless….
Oh such fun! A castle or fire station??
We would build a tunnel and definitely a rocket.
Love this! My 4 year old’s class is learning about space and she has been asking to build a rocket ship so that would be our first build!
How awesome….we would build a tent and probably so many other cool options.
I think the teepee looked interesting, but my kid would like the castle.
My kiddos would spend hours with this! My thoughts are they may create a castle or a fire station perhaps…but in reality it will likely be something amazing I cannot even predict!
My kids would love to build castles
My son would be obsessed with this! He would build hideouts for his super heroes, train stations and so much more. He’s just the right age to get many years of play out of a toy like this!
We’d build Thunderbird 3 and a racing car base!
Totally awesome! We love building tents on rainy days! This would be incredible to build trucks too!
A ship, a train, a castle!!! I think it’d be easier to say what we wouldn’t build. Love, love, love!
A Christmas tree and then a ship! Would love to create wonder-ful experiences for our 14-month old son using this. Thank you!!
My oldest would build the playhouse, and my youngest would love the sleepover tent. Hope to win this to enjoy with my girls! :)
A rocket for sure!
The horse and carriage! My daughters would love it!
The possibilities would be endless but a castle and a teepee would be top priority! Fingers crossed!
I’m pretty sure my kids would make a time machine…with a very interesting destination awaiting their arrival :)
This is so neat!
Maybe a tunnel for an obstacle course. Maybe a secret garden..
We would build many many things! A stable for a horse crazy girl! A vegetable and ice cream stand (everyone needs ice cream when they shop for vegetables, right?). A castle with a moat.
Definitely a gingerbread house for my obsessed five year old! Then a cave for the bear obsessed four year old!