Opens November 4, 2025

Celebrate the holidays at GCM with a gingerbread-inspired winter wonderland! In Gingerbread Village, you and the family can build gingerbread houses made out of recycled materials like cardboard, pipe cleaners, bottle caps, and more. Add your sweet construction to our village that grows day-by-day or take it home with you. Gingerbread Village is always included in museum admission.

Gingerbread Village

Step into Gingerbread Village in our MakeSpace exhibit, where creativity, collaboration, and winter wonders come to life. In Gingerbread Village, you can tinker away at creating imaginative gingerbread-inspired houses and structures to add to our growing village. Work together as a family to design and build miniature creations using recyclable materials like cardboard, pipe cleaners, bottle caps, and more everyday items. Gingerbread Village will continue to grow and expand over the holiday season, just like our community, with help from you! Will you build a cottage, a library, a towering skyscraper, or a playground? That’s for you to decide!

Our MakeSpace crafts, including Gingerbread Village, are carefully curated to enhance kids’ gross and fine motor skills, while also helping them develop essential everyday skills such as decision-making, trial-and-error, experimentation, collaboration, curiosity, and more!

Wintry Wonderful Guests

Enjoy festive holiday fun with visits from these special guests!

WEDU 
Enjoy storytime and themed crafts from our friends at WEDU

• November 18, 11am | Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
• December 16, 11am | The Gingerbread Man by Gail Yerrill

TAMPA CITY BALLET
Experience a 20-minute performance of select scenes from The Nutcracker from our friends at Tampa City Ballet.

• November 22, 11am

ELF MEET-AND-GREET
Enjoy a festive meet-and-greet with a special elf friend who is traveling through the seven levels of the candy cane forest, past the sea of twirly-swirly gumpdrops, and through the Lincoln Tunnel to come visit us at GCM!

• November 29, 10:30am-12:30pm
• November 30, 10:30am-12:30pm

*Additional appearances may be added to this list as the holiday season goes on