Get ready to sweeten up your holiday festivities with these 48 gingerbread man templates that are all free to download and print! These templates are not only great for coloring but are also perfect for cutting out, creating holiday decorations, sewing, DIY gift tags, ornaments, and a whole lot more!
For this series, you will find a variety of gingerbread man templates featuring classic gingerbread man and woman figures, decorated gingerbread men complete with icing and gumdrop buttons, as well as minimalist modern versions, plus much more!
To use any of these free templates, you can click on any of the below images or links to open the high-resolution PDF on a new page. From there, you can freely download or print to your heart’s content!
All these PDF templates are on standard US letter size, but they also fit perfectly onto A4 paper sizes! Enjoy!
10 Uses For Printable Gingerbread Man Templates
Here are 10 inexpensive, fun, and creative craft ideas you can do with your completed coloring page!
10. Christmas Tree Ornaments
My gingerbread man templates can be turned into adorable Christmas tree ornaments in just a few steps.
First, you’ll print the templates onto brown cardstock (or, you can print them onto regular computer paper, cut them out and then trace the cut-outs onto cardboard).
Cut them out, and then your kids can decorate them any way they want – using crafting pom poms for buttons, for example, glitter or paper cut-outs for their ankle and wrist cuffs, etc.
Punch a hole in the top of the gingerbread men and tie a loop of yarn, ribbon, or even twine through. You can then hang the ornaments using that loop.
9. Christmas Card Decorations
Nothing says “love” like a DIY Christmas card, and my gingerbread men are ideal for decorating them.
Print them off, let your kids color them in however they want, cut them out and then paste them to the front of the card.
Conversely, you could also turn the gingerbread men into the card itself – print off two copies of the same template and staple them together on one side.
8. Christmas Party Decorations
When you’re hosting a Christmas party, the last thing you want to do is spend a fortune on decorating your house.
You can use my gingerbread man templates as inexpensive décor, and you can get your kids in on the action by recruiting them to help color in the figures.
Once they’re done, you can string together the gingerbread men and make bunting to hang on a wall or over a doorway, or you can use individual figures as part of your place settings.
7. Gingerbread Man Crowns
A fun use for my gingerbread men is to use them to make crown crafts (this is a perfect activity for a Christmas party that includes kids!).
You’ll print out the templates and then have the kids cut them in half. They’ll color in the top half of the gingerbread men.
Next, you’ll cut two-inch strips of construction paper and loop them to form the “crowns,” securing them with tape, staples, or even glue.
Finally, glue the decorated gingerbread men to the front of the crowns.
6. Gingerbread Man Stapled Crafts
Another cute use for my gingerbread men is to turn them into a pillowy stapled craft.
To do this, you will need to print off the template of your choice onto brown cardstock.
Have your kids decorate just one of the gingerbread men – that will be the top layer.
Cut out both templates and start stapling them together, about a fourth of an inch in. When stapling them about halfway, stuff some tissues between the layers.
Continue stapling until the gingerbread men figures are all closed up.
You are left with a cute 3D gingerbread man that is perfect for tabletop decoration.
5. Picture Frame Decorations
Another fun craft idea for using my gingerbread men is to create a custom Christmas-themed picture frame.
You will need shrink sheets, which you can find on Amazon; print the templates onto the shrink sheets and have your kids color them in with markers.
They’ll cut them out, and then you will bake them per the instructions.
Once they’re cooled, you can hot glue them to picture frames; decorate them with ribbon, glitter, etc.
Slip a cute family pic into the frame, and you have a really nice DIY gift!
4. Gingerbread Man Mosaic Crafts
This is a simple and fun craft using my gingerbread man templates.
You’ll need lots of scraps of paper – or if it’s older kids or adults doing the craft, you can use actual crafting glass or mosaic tiles.
Print out the template of your choice and then fill in the gingerbread men with the scraps of paper or glass, carefully gluing them down.
You can make eyes, buttons, and a mouth where they would normally go or just fill in the lines randomly.
3. Classroom Decorations
If your classroom needs livening up for the winter holiday season, you can use my gingerbread man templates to help brighten the space.
They’re a great, secular symbol of the winter holidays, so you don’t have to worry about discluding anyone based on religion.
In fact, you could get your students to color them in and decorate them, and then hang them up around the classroom.
2. Classroom Activities
There are lots of classroom activities you can use my gingerbread men for as well.
For example, you could hand out handfuls of buttons, call out a number and then have your students place the correct number of buttons on the gingerbread men.
Or you could have your students color in/decorate the gingerbread men however they like, then write a paragraph about how the gingerbread men got to be decorated like that.
1. Party Games
My gingerbread man templates are ideal for holiday party games.
For example, you could play pin the gumdrop buttons on the gingerbread man, print out one of the templates, and make paper buttons.
Then you can blindfold the kids, spin them around and watch the hilarity ensue!
Another game is sticker matching. Find holiday-themed stickers and place them around the templates.
Then, on the count of three, the kids will try to match the stickers with their doubles, placing them next to the ones on the template.
The first to finish wins a prize!