How to Draw a Gingerbread Man (Easy Step-by-Step for Kids)
To draw a gingerbread man, start with a round head. Add a cookie body with short arms and legs in one smooth outline. Finish with a smiling face, three buttons and wavy icing lines.
- Steps
- 6 easy steps
- You need
- Pencil
- Eraser
- Black marker
- Brown, red, green and pink crayons
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Teaching this to a class?
Show one step at a time on the board and wait for the class before the next. The directed drawing for kids page explains how to run it.
How to draw a gingerbread man step by step
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Step 1 of 6: Draw a round circle for the head.
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Step 2 of 6: Add a body with short, rounded arms and legs in one smooth outline.
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Step 3 of 6: Draw two dot eyes and a small smile on the head.
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Step 4 of 6: Add three round buttons down the middle of the body.
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Step 5 of 6: Draw wavy icing lines across the ends of the arms and legs.
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Step 6 of 6: Color the cookie golden brown, the buttons red and green, and add pink cheeks.
Tips for little artists
Tip: Press lightly with the pencil first. Trace the lines you like with the marker, then erase the rest.
Tip: Draw the arms and legs as short, fat bumps. A real cookie cutter shape has no thin parts.
Tip: Leave the icing lines white. The paper already looks like sugar icing.
Make it yours
Gingerbread girl
Add two pigtails on the head and a scalloped skirt line across the middle of the body.
Running gingerbread man
Bend one leg back and one arm forward, as if he is running away. Add a few speed lines.
Gingerbread family
Draw a big, a medium and a small gingerbread cookie side by side, each with its own icing pattern.
Common mistakes and easy fixes
The head floats above the body
Join the body outline to the bottom of the head circle. There is no neck on a gingerbread cookie.
The arms come out thin
Make each arm about half as wide as the head. Then round off the end like a mitten.
The buttons run off the body
Draw the middle button first, in the center of the body. Then add one above it and one below it.
Fun facts about the gingerbread man
The first documented figure-shaped gingerbread biscuits were made at the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England. (Source: Wikipedia)
Queen Elizabeth I had gingerbread men made to represent foreign dignitaries and people in her court. (Source: TIME)
Gingerbread was long associated with fairs and festivals. By the 19th century, it was connected to Christmas. (Source: Wikipedia)
Questions grown-ups ask
How do you draw a gingerbread man easy?
Draw a round head, then one smooth outline for the body with short, rounded arms and legs. Add a face, three buttons and wavy icing lines. The 6 steps above follow that order.
How do you draw a gingerbread girl?
Draw the same cookie shape as the gingerbread man. Then add two pigtails on the head and a scalloped skirt line across the middle of the body.
How do you draw a gingerbread man running?
Bend one leg back and one arm forward, as if he is running away. A few short speed lines behind him show he is on the run.
If the arms came out different sizes, call it a homemade cookie. Homemade cookies rarely come out perfect. More easy drawings for kids are on the home page.