Gingerbread Man
Tree Ornament
Print out a
shape of a gingerbread man. Glue and sprinkle a mix of cinnamon and nutmeg
and ginger on to the glued gingerbread man. Hang on tree. Smells of
Christmas!!!
Sweet Smelling
Gingerbread House
Construct a
candy covered gingerbread house without using a single baking
pan or a drop of frosting. For each child, precut a simple house
shape from
tan or brown construction paper. Then provide a supply of scented
stickers showing all kinds
of candy and treats. Have the child peel and stick to make his house
look and smell yummy!
Gingerbread Man
I
bought a gingerbread cookies cutter (green plastic) from the Wal-Mart
Christmas
craft islander display. The children will trace the pattern, cut out the
pattern and decorate their gingerbread man.
Materials Needed:
Brown construction paper
Glue
Raisins (buttons)
Cinnamon drop (nose)
Curved Ribbing, red, white, and green
Later on we can wash the cookie cutters and make real gingerbread men.
Gingerbread Man Reindeer
Materials Needed:
Thin cork, Markers or paint, "Eyes" ( or paint them), Glue,
Green fabric scraps, Tiny bow, Red bead or pompom
Directions:
Cut a gingerbread-man shape out of the cork. Use a cookie cutter
for the pattern,
or do it freehand. Turn so the "feet" are at the top. The 'feet' are the
antlers, the 'arms'
ears the 'head' is now the nose. Paint or draw straight lines from end of
antlers,
meeting in a V where the tummy would be if it was still a cookie. Draw a
couple
of 45 degree angle lines upward from the main lines. Glue red bead or
pompom
at tip of nose. Paint or glue wide round eyes centered above the nose. Cut
2 holly leaves
from the green fabric. Glue at base of V. Glue bow on top of holly. These
can also be made
with stiffened felt, fun foam, or wood. Add a pin or barrette back, or
punch hole for ornament.
Cardboard
Gingerbread Cookies
Squirtable tubes of puffy fabric paint and a blow-dryer were the star
attractions of
this quick and easy craft. We used the paint like icing to decorate our
cardboard
cookies, and I found that the containers kept the process surprisingly
mess-free,
even in the hands of a four- or five-year-old. Tanner thought it was
especially
neat to use a hair dryer to make the puffy paint puff up after it was dry.
Materials Needed:
Corrugated cardboard
Cookie cutters
X-Acto knife
Puffy fabric paint
Blow-dryer
Directions:
Trace around cookie cutters on cardboard and cut out the "cookies"
with an X-Acto knife
(a parent's job). Decorate with puffy fabric paint. Let paint dry a
few hours, if possible,
then blow-dry and watch it puff. (Have guests paint at the start of the
party,
so they can blow-dry before they leave.)
Tip:
When you cut out the "cookie," you don't have to cut all the way
through
the cardboard at once--go over the cutting line a couple of times.
Cinnamon Clay
Ornaments
This
recipe makes a sweet smelling dough that can be made into ornaments or
decorations.
Materials
Needed:
1 1/2 cups ground cinnamon
1 cup applesauce
1/3 cup white school glue (like Elmer's)
1 medium sized bowl
Flat surface for kneading
Wax paper
Rolling pin
Cookie cutters - various types
Knife
Straw
Nonstick cooling rack
Ribbon
Puffy paints, optional
Directions:
Mix cinnamon, applesauce, and glue together in a bowl. Remove from the
bowl
and knead the mixture until it turns into firm clay. Let sit for about 30
minutes. Clay is best used at room temperature. You may need to dust your
rolling pin, hands, or working surface with cinnamon, or use wax paper as
a
working surface. Roll out clay with a rolling pin to approximately 1/8 of
an inch thick. Use cutters to cut out desired shapes (we like gingerbread
men). If you are going to hang your shape, use a straw to cut out a hole
near the top of the shape. Place shapes on a non-stick cooling rack or
wax
paper. You will need to keep an eye on them and turn them over
occasionally
so that they dry evenly and dry shapes for approximately 5 days. You can
bake them in an oven of 150 degree for 5-6 hours turning every hour. When
dry you may put a ribbon through the hole for hanging on the tree or
adding
to a package. You may add puffy paint to decorate your shapes, if you
wish.
Large
Gingerbread Kid
Have
each child lie down on a large sheet of brown bulletin board paper.
Trace around his/her body with a pencil; then cut on the resulting
outline.
Have the child use markers, crayons, and construction paper scraps to
decorate
his/her gingerbread cutout. Display the gingerbread kids on a wall
in your classroom
or hallway. Then invite each child to measure him/her self against
each cutout. If desired,
challenge the children to use problem solving skills to find out whose
gingerbread cutout is whose.
Gingerbread
People
Have
Children make gingerbread people cut out of construction paper.
Sprinkle ginger onto men add yarn and raisins.
Felt
Gingerbread Kids
To
make a gingerbread kid, cut two identical tracings of a large gingerbread
boy
outline from felt. Using craft glue, glue around the perimeter of
one cutout, leaving
the top of the head unglued. Then place the other cutout on the
first, gluing them
together. When the glue has thoroughly dried, stuff fiberfill into
the opening. Then
use craft glue to glue gold rickrack or other trim around each of the
gingerbread kid's
wrists and ankles. To the chest, glue a small red heart cutout, some
felt holly leaves,
and a small red bow. Glue on felt facial features or use fabric
paints to add them. Glue a
loop of ribbon to the back of the gingerbread kid's head for hanging.
When these gingerbread projects
are thoroughly dry, thread them on a length of red ribbon, separated by
felt heart and holly cutouts.
Milk-Carton
Gingerbread House
Each
child will need a small milk carton and an assortment of colorful candies
to decorate.
Wash the cartons; then staple the spouts shut. To make the houses, "glue"
graham cracker
walls to the sides of the milk cartons using Royal Icing (see recipe).
Attach the candy to the
walls using a bit of icing as well. The royal icing will harden within an
hour so children can take
their houses home to use as holiday centerpieces. (We make ours on the
last day that all
the kids will be attending daycare prior to Christmas Day)...
Royal Icing:
Mix 1 cup confectioners sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, and 1 egg
white.
Stir in 1/3 cup boiling water. Beat ah high speed for 10 minutes. Keep
covered
with a damp t-towel if not using right away. (This makes enough to build 4
houses)
Gingerbread Men
Materials
Needed:
Brown paper
or sand paper, ground or whole cinnamon, colored/white glue, glitter,
markers, etc;
Directions:
Run the gingerbread pattern onto brown paper or trace it onto the sand
paper.
If using sand paper, rub whole cinnamon sticks across the paper. Great
sensory
activity. If using the brown paper, sprinkle on ground cinnamon (like
glitter).
Then embellish the gingerbread with glue, glitter, markers, or however
desired.
Decorated
Gingerbread Kids
Let your
children decorate large gingerbread kid shapes
cut from brown paper or poster board. Here are a few ideas.
Brush on glue and sprinkle on powdered cinnamon and ginger.
Glue on collage materials, such as yarn, rickrack, fabric scraps,
and pompoms. Squeeze on white "puffy paint" made by mixing equal
parts flour,
salt, and water, then adding white tempera paint. Put into squeeze
bottles.
Cut gingerbread patterns from brown grocery sacks and let children
decorate using buttons,
glitter, lace, etc. (You can let the children glue coffee grounds or sand
on for texture!)
Gingerbread
People
Materials
Needed:
Ginger boy or girl cookie cutter
White thread or yarn
Red and black markers or crayons
Scissors
Glue
Brown paper grocery bag
Candy canes 8" or larger
Directions:
Open bag up flat. Trace around cookie cutters and cut out. Glue string
or yarn around edge.
Draw eyes and mouth and buttons on people. Wrap hand of "gingerbread"
person around candy cane and glue. Hang from tree by candy cane.
Sandpaper
Gingerbread Ornaments
One idea is
to cut gingerbread people out of sand paper
(found mine at the dollar
store). You can use a cookie cutter. To make these
into ornaments for the tree just cut
two small VERTICAL slices in the body
about 2-3 " apart and weave a candy cane through them. Add some
white
frosting (white paint) around the edges and you are done. You
could scrape the paper with a
cinnamon stick to get the smell.
Grocery Bag
Gingerbread Folk
Materials Needed:
Brown paper bag
Scissors
Gingerbread cookie cutter
Pencil
Markers
Googly eyes
Buttons
Ribbons
Directions
Cut a strip of paper from a brown bag. Measure the width of a gingerbread
cookie cutter, then accordion-fold the bag to match the width of the cookie cutter.
Trace the cutter onto the paper,
making sure that each of the hands ends on a fold.
Use paper clips to secure the folded bag, then cut along the
lines (be
careful not to cut through the folds). Unfold the garland
and decorate your "family" with markers, wiggly eyes,
buttons, and
ribbons. If you like, each folk with a name.
Gingerbread
Bath Salts
Follow
the directions below to help each child make
a batch of gingerbread
scented bath salts to
give to a special someone. After making a batch,
program a
gingerbread cutout with the following:
Sprinkle in as fast as you can!
Bath salts from the Gingerbread Man!
(Just a pinch or two per tub of water.)
Tie the cutout to the bag of bath salts and the gift is ready for giving.
Ingredients Needed:
1 tsp. ground allspice
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 lb. box of baking soda
Directions:
Mix ingredients together thoroughly; then place in a resealable
plastic bag.
Gingerbread
Buddies
Cut out
large gingerbread men out of paper bags and punched holes in them
and let the children sew around them and stuff with fiberfill. Decorate
with puffy
paint & real buttons. The kids decorate a gingerbread man/woman and hang
it on a board that is covered with aluminum foil to look like a cookie
sheet.
Gingerbread Man
After we
read the book, The Gingerbread Man, I had my kindergartners plan
what type of gingerbread man they each wanted to make. I gave each a ditto
with the outline of a gingerbread man on it. I showed them mine as a
sample
(I drew M&M eyes, a raisin nose, red hot buttons etc...) then actually
made
my gingerbread man according to my "blueprint." Then the children did the
same thing (planned it out on paper, then made their actual gingerbread
man.). It was especially nice for their parents to see what they made on
paper since they ate their gingerbread men before they went home.
