How to Make a Miniature Village

Create house templates from the cardboard. Using the ruler, draw the shape of a house. Make the bottom line 6 inches long, and the two walls, on the left and right sides, 4 inches tall. Finish the house with a pitched roof measuring 5 inches long on each side. Draw two boxes, one measuring 4-by-5 inches and another measuring 5-by-6 inches. Cut the templates from the cardboard.

Trace the outline of the house's front, using your template, onto the card stock. Repeat to create the house's back. Trace the square templates onto the card stock. Make two cut-outs of each square. The smaller pieces make up the house's sides, while the larger squares make up the roof.

Paint the mat board white and let it dry. Take one of the smaller card stock squares and apply a generous amount of hot glue to one of the longer edges. Place the square onto the mat board and hold in place until the glue holds the wall to the board. Repeat with the house front, followed by the other side wall and, finally, the house's back. Apply more glue along each of the house's four corners. Finish by attaching the roof with more glue along the top edges of the house's walls.

Paint the house's front, back and both sides in one color. Paint the roof brown or red. Allow the paint to dry. Begin adding embellishments by cutting smaller rectangular and square pieces of card stock to create doors and windows. Choose a contrasting color of card stock to create shutters.

Repeat Steps 1 through 4 and create more houses for the village. Get creative with different shapes and measurements in order to make stores, churches, schools and more. Construct simple evergreen trees from green pipe cleaners. Brown construction paper makes a great dirt road. Use blue construction paper, cut in the shape of an oval, as an ice-skating pond. Easy pipe cleaners crafts, found online, help to fill the newly-founded village with snowmen and people. Add glitter to make the village appear magical.