We are sliding right into the holiday season, and today I am so excited to share my latest addition to my ever-expanding Christmas village set with you! So, lace up and follow me to this magically festive Christmas Village ice rink.
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Growing up, my mom had a small Christmas Village set that she would break out around the holidays. To be honest, I don’t know if I could tell you much about any of the buildings in the set, but I’ll never forget the ice rink. Not only did it have lights and play music, but the little figures actually skated around the ice! I was so enthralled by those little ice skaters—I could watch them forever!
So, when I embarked on designing a set of Christmas Village papercrafts a few years ago, the idea of an ice rink came to mind right away. I just wasn’t confident enough to actually give it a go until now.
Be sure to check out my Christmas village toy store, church, bakery, gazebo, and town hall as well.
Supplies
- Cardstock
- Vellum
- Hot Glue
- Foam Tape (optional)
- Bone Folder (optional)
- A Cutting Machine or X-ACTO knife
- My Free Template
How to Make It
1. Use your cutting machine or X-ACTO knife, along with my template, to cut out all of the pieces for your Christmas village ice rink.
Note: If you are using the SVG files that includes the score lines, don’t forget to set them as such in Cricut Design Space and attach them to their shapes before sending them through your cutting machine. I used a lime green color to mark the score lines, so hopefully that helps! If you’re having trouble with the score lines, check out this video.
Prep Work
2. For this project, I started with the little figures. These take a while to assemble, but if you piece them together right away, there is less chance of losing an important, but tiny, ice skate or article of clothing later on.
There are two, mirrored versions of each figure (with the exception of the skate rental guy). Once you have both versions layered, sandwich them together so that they each have a front and back side. But don’t glue the bottom tabs together!
Assembling the Bridge
3. Gather the pieces shown below. Take the rectangular piece and curl the paper slightly. Then, fold the little tabs outward, and attach them to the bottom, inside edge of one of your bridge pieces. Add the slightly smaller bridge piece inside, in order to cover your tabs.
Repeat the process with the other side of the bridge. Attach the matching snow pieces to the bridge.
Assembling the Skate Rental Shack
4. Gather the pieces shown below. Layer the wall accent pieces to the outside of the main building piece. Attach the little skate rental worker to the inside using some foam tape.
Fold the building along the score lines, and attach the tabs to the inside so that it forms a “house.”
Next, fold each of your two roof pieces along the score lines. Attach the blue piece to the top of the building first, and the black roof piece next. The roof with overhand slightly on each side. Then, attach two little snow pieces to the roof to finish it off.
Assembling the Skating Rink
5. Gather the pieces shown below. Layer the circular snow piece on top of your vellum ice pond.
Make sure that the two snow strips you are using are the same width as the rectangular strips used in this section. Take one of your rectangular strips and fold all of the little tabs inward. Attach each tab around the underside perimeter of the ice rink, one or two at a time.
With all of those attached, repeat the same process with the other strip.
Adhere your two strips of snow around the walls, so it appears to be coming down from the top of the ice rink.
Attaching the Ice Skaters
6. Gather your figures, along with the white, circular pieces. There are two spectators and three skaters in this design.
For the spectators, position them close together, and insert the bottom tabs into the slit in the double-circle. Glue the tabs down, and attach the solid double-circle piece to the bottom.
For the skaters, slip their bottom tabs into one of the other circle pieces that has a slit. Then, slip the tabs into one of the ice skating tracks. Next, flare the two bottom tabs outward, and attach them to one of the solid circle pieces.
Note: Be careful not to get any glue on the ice rink, or your skater won’t be able to move freely along the track.
Repeat that process with the other two ice skaters.
Assembling the Base
7. Gather the pieces shown below. For this section, you are looking to create an open-sided box with one rounded edge. To do so, start by taking your two unattached sides, and folding along the score lines. Attach the straight side using the single, long tab provided. Attach the other side by adhering each of the little tabs around the curved edge, until it meets the short, right-side piece.
Then, attach the four snowy strip pieces around the whole thing.
Assembling the Skate Rental Shack Base
8. Gather the three pieces shown below. Fold the largest piece along the score lines. Attach each of the tabs to the inside.
Use the slits provided at the top of the box to attach the skate rental shack. Glue down the tabs.
For the stairs, just fold along the score lines in an accordion style for now, but don’t attach them just yet.
Putting Things Together
9. Grab the white base piece.
Assemble the four little lamp posts as shown. Then, sandwich them together, so you’re left with only two lamp posts. Once again, don’t glue the bottom tabs together.
Follow the pattern of the slits in the white base piece to see where you need to attach your bridge, then your ice rink, then your skate rental shack section. Use the two small slits near the ice rink to attach your lamp posts. Glue all of the tabs to the underside with hot glue.
10. Next, take your small triangular piece and curl it slightly. This will be the wall for your curved staircase. Inert the bottom tab into the last remaining slit in the white base piece, near the skate rental shack. Use the longer tab to attach it to the wall.
With all of those pieces in place, you can attach it all to your raised base.
Now it’s time to attach the stairs. There are three “wedge-shaped” steps, and one rectangular step at the bottom. The important thing to know when placing this staircase is that the bottom wedge step will be flush with the top of the raised base, and the whole thing should fit in between the curved wall and the flat wall that the skate rental shack sits atop. Use the tabs provided to attach it all together.
Finishing Touches
11. Add some little pine trees all around your skating rink to really bring your project to life!
To make the trees, take four tree pieces of the same size and fold them in half. Add some hot glue to the folded edge of one of the pieces, and attach another piece opposite it. Add hot glue along the center, and attach another piece. Then, repeat the process on the other side, until all four pieces are connected, and your tree can stand on its own.
Make five little pine trees, and arrange them however you’d like around the skating rink. Your Christmas Village ice rink is open for business!
I did my best to add a lot of visual interest in this piece. That’s why I decided to challenge myself by making a curved staircase. That one section alone took probably 1/3 of my design time to make; but once I saw it in place, I knew it was worth the effort!
This papercraft is not for the faint of heart! There are a lot of little pieces that take patience to sort out and place. Not to mention any hand-drawn details you may want to add. But, I can promise you that it’s a project you will be incredibly proud of when you complete it! Not only is it interactive and adorable, but there is just so much to look at all around.
I use Adobe Illustrator for all of my designs, and a Cricut Maker to bring my creations to life. For tips on creating fun paper cuts like this one, see the FAQ section on my website. Also, be sure to check out the other fun freebies available on my blog!
Enjoy putting my Christmas village ice rink together. And don’t forget to share your festive finished project with me on Instagram!
*This post contains affiliate links. By clicking through my links to make a purchase, you are supporting this blog and the hard work that goes into providing free, quality designs.
Mandee is a professional graphic designer, amateur bird watcher, and rollercoaster enthusiast. She is a wife to hardworking high school teacher and mommy to three adorable little humans. She fell in love with graphic design when she started working on a comedy website with a guy she met her freshman year of college. Design wasn’t the only thing she fell in love with, and they were married a year and a half later. She created Designs By Miss Mandee to be a place where she could merge her passion for design with her lifelong love of crafting. 18 Comments on Christmas Village Ice Rink – 3D Cut File
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bianca
November 22, 2022 at 10:42 am (4 months ago)wauwww Geweldig mooi.
Dankjewel
Mandee
November 23, 2022 at 4:04 pm (4 months ago)Thank you! I’m glad you like it. 😊
Henny Kremers
November 22, 2022 at 11:35 am (4 months ago)nice work
Henny Kremers
November 22, 2022 at 11:36 am (4 months ago)I like this work very much
auntie em
November 22, 2022 at 12:25 pm (4 months ago)What a lovely design! The details are amazing. The little bridge, the skaters all dressed up so cozy, The spectators enjoying the activity and the glowing lights, You have thought of everything. I had a a skating rink to put among my village and the little skaters never got tired of entertaining our children.
Thank you for sharing and the sweet memories!
Mandee
November 23, 2022 at 4:05 pm (4 months ago)I’m so glad you enjoy all the little details I included in this one!! It was a lot of fun to see it come to life. 😊
Christine
November 22, 2022 at 12:54 pm (4 months ago)Your work is amazing
Mandee
November 23, 2022 at 4:07 pm (4 months ago)Aww, thank you so much! ❤️
Helen J Roberts
November 23, 2022 at 4:47 am (4 months ago)Such an amazing design! The details are perfect. I am reminded of my childhood and going to the local pond to ice skate. Thank you for sharing, and bringing joy to so many of us.
Mandee
November 23, 2022 at 4:08 pm (4 months ago)How fun! I’m amazed anytime I hear of anyone actually skating on a pond! The ice rink I grew up with was indoors.
Vale
November 23, 2022 at 6:35 pm (4 months ago)This is beyoooooond
Mandee
November 29, 2022 at 11:38 am (4 months ago)Aww, thank you Vale! 😊
Bobbi
November 25, 2022 at 11:01 am (4 months ago)I know it’s a lot of work, but would love it if you had YouTube videos to go with your projects. Thank you for all your hard work.
Mandee
November 29, 2022 at 11:41 am (4 months ago)I really wish I had time to do more! This project took about 15 hours from start to finish just as it is, and a video would add another 7 hours on top. So it’s super hard to find the time to do full-length tutorial videos.
Carolyn
November 29, 2022 at 4:55 am (4 months ago)Hi Mandee, what size is this when completed? It looks very interesting and I’d like to do it, but I’m worried about the size.
Mandee
November 29, 2022 at 11:47 am (4 months ago)Finished, my ice rink is about 8″ square and 5.25″ tall at the tallest point. 🙂
vivilavilaine
November 29, 2022 at 1:21 pm (4 months ago)merci pour cette magnifique patinoire 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 ):)Je viens de la finir
Mandee
December 1, 2022 at 10:56 am (4 months ago)You are very welcome! I’m sure you did a beautiful job putting it together!!