Christmas STEM: Gingerbread House Paper Circuits

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Make a light-up gingerbread house village out of paper bags!  These gingerbread house paper circuits are such a fun Christmas STEM activity for learning and to encourage creativity!

How to Make Paper Bag Gingerbread House Paper Circuits

You will need to following supplies for this project:

• Lunch Size Paper Bags
• Markers or Crayons to Decorate
• Copper Tape
• LED Lights
• 3 Volt Lithium Batteries
• Tape
• Paper Clips
• Small Stones

Decorate the front of the bags to look like gingerbread houses. We did ours with markers and white crayons to make some snow. Cut out some windows and doors. Fold the top flap of the bag back.

On the back side of the bag you will make the paper circuit.

You will need two pieces of copper tape. Start the first one at the toplight and go down to the the left bottom of the bag with a corner at the top left. This needs to be one connecting piece.

The second piece starts at the top right and goes down to the bottom, turns the corner and goes to the bottom left. You need a space between this piece and the other piece so they do not touch at either point.

The LED light has two pins and one is longer than the other. The positive end is the longer end. cut or poke a spall hole in the bag at the bottom left corner between the two strips of copper tape. Put the bulb inside the bag and the pins sticking out the back side. Tape the pins down so they are touching the copper tape. I pointed my positive side to the left.  Then match up the positive side of the battery with the positive end of the LED light. Add a small piece of tape to secure the battery, but do not cover the part that will touch the copper wire.

When you fold down the paper bag it will touch the negative side of the battery to the negative end of the copper tape/LED light. This will light up the bulb!  Use a paper clip to secure it and keep it lit up.  I added some small stones into the bottom of the bags to keep them standing up.

Now make a whole village of gingerbread house paper circuits!

Find More Christmas Learning Ideas:

Christmas Fractions
Christmas Tree Spelling
Roll a Gingerbread Man
Poinsettia Ph
Pascal’s Triangle: Christmas Tree Math
Christmas Bell Game
Soft Circuit Christmas Tree
STEAM Kids Christmas Book
12 Days of Christmas Game
Christmas Tree Felt Board

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