3D Paper House Template & Craft
Let your creativity shine with this DIY 3D paper house craft and free template. When you’re done, check out this color & craft house template. This post contains affiliate links.
It’s back to basics for us today, with a classic, timeless project perfect for young crafters: a simple paper house that can be dressed up or down as much as you like. It’s been a while since I shared the paper house templates that went viral. Those are more basic on the assembly, and have a color & craft aspect, but this is a more traditional variation.
Many people have been asking for this more traditional 3D paper house template, so I figured I’d share one.
The simple shapes and straightforward directions make this project accessible to just about anyone, while crafters looking for more sophistication can use it as a springboard for more complex ideas by adding decorations and accessoires. You can even combine structures to make larger homes!
For some reason, houses big and small enchant children of all ages – especially when given the chance to create and design their own. Perhaps because it gives them their own domain to rule over, while adults manage the actual home they live in. Or it can be a platform to act out home-based fantasies or role playing – especially when combined with little figures they can bring to life.
Crafts like this one ignite children’s creative and imagination skills by showing them how a simple piece of paper can turn into a 3-D model. We’ve provided just enough structure to start them off, and now they can use the same concept and skills to elaborate on this project or invent their own.
Try offering some fun types of paper and markers to add individual personality to go beyond the basic paper house. Encourage your child to look at houses in your neighborhood and notice their features, such as types of materials and accents, and then decide which of these features they might like to add to their house craft.
Maybe they’ll even want to make a whole neighborhood of miniature houses, too! You’ll love that this only requires paper and a bit of glue, because they can build away without needing any fancy or expensive supplies.
Supplies:
- Colored cardstock
- White cardstock
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Glue – I recommend tacky glue or glue lines
- Markers
- 3-D house template (download and print at the end of this post)
How to make a paper house
1. Print the template and cut out all the parts. The first page of the template is for the house itself, and the second page is for the trees and the fence that goes around the house.
Any parts that you want to keep white or color yourself can be printed directly onto cardstock and cut out the way they are. Other parts should be traced onto colored paper of your choice and then cut out.
When cutting out the main base of the house, only cut the black lines on the outside. The inner lines are to be folded, not cut. Fold and then unfold along each line to make creases in the house template.
Then cut the red dotted lines on the house base, and fold outward on the green line. That will be the door of the house.
2. Glue the doorknob (little circle) onto the door (small vertical rectangle).
Find the horizontal rectangle and the matching square. Glue the square to the middle of the rectangle, and fold in the sides to make a window with shutters. If you’d like, you can trace these shapes multiple times to make more windows.
3. Use a marker to draw details such as window panes onto the windows.
Glue the windows onto the main part of the house.
4. Glue the door onto the base of the house at the slit that you cut out in step 1.
5. Put glue on the smallest section of the house base.
6. Bend the house base along the creases and stick the open end onto the flap with the glue.
7. Take the roof cutout. Fold to create creases along the lines indicated on the template. Glue the folded edges to the triangles for the front and back of the roof.
8. Place the roof on top of the house and use glue to stick it in place.
9. Next we’ll work on the fence. Take the long strip of card stock/colored paper and all the small sticks. Glue the small sticks vertically along the longer strip, spacing them as evenly as you can. You don’t need to use all of the sticks, or you can make more if needed, if you inadvertently spaced them closer or farther than I did.
10. Fold the fence to go around the house. Feel free to create more fence pieces if you want a larger fence.
11. Get your tree pieces ready – trace and cut them out of some nice tree colors, if you didn’t already do this.
12. Roll the rectangles into tubes and use glue to hold it shut. You may need to hold the glued edge for a minute so it doesn’t unroll.
13. Make a few small slits at the bottom of the paper tubes.
Make two small slits on opposite sides of the top of the tubes.
- Slide the treetop through the top slits.
Spread apart the slits at the bottom and crease them slightly to make the tree stand up.
Now it’s time to decorate the house however you want, and get ready to move in!
Download the Paper House Template
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