Gingerbread Boys, Girls & Babies, Oh My!

Gingerbread Week was such a hit -

it's still going strong!

After the Great Gingerbread House Baking Failure

I was very leery of getting involved with anymore gingerbread dough.

Of course, the Lil Divas had their hearts set on making cookies.

We made gingerbread men last year  but after reading 

our many wonderful gingerbread books together this week,

they wanted to make their own gingerbread boys, girls and babies.

I may not be SUPERMOM but I hate to disappoint my girls.

I am also NOT a gluten for punishment so this time

I decided to forgo the "this must be made from scratch" ideology

and bought an easy mix which required nothing but butter, water and a touch of oil.

Family Traditions: 

Baking & Decorating Gingerbread Cookies

This time I refrigerated the dough after mixing( for 1-2 hrs.) 

& I am happy to report that it worked so much better! 

The Lil Divas had a great time cutting out gingerbread shapes.

We had 3 different sized cookie cutters and they used a variety of sizes

in order to make boys, girls and babies. 

Once we put them in the oven, it was time to stand guard!

We can't have those gingerbreads running off, cam we?

I think they were secretly hoping a few would pop up 

from the pan & run off!

Alas, all we had we had were some regular old gingerbread cookies.

We let them cool & then the Lil Divas set out to have some fun -

it was cookie DECORATING time!

They really took their time creating the cookie masterpieces.

We opted to use some easy icing tubes

& the Lil Divas drew to their  hearts content.

Pretty soon we had some yummy & wonderful

gingerbread boys, girls and of course babies,

It was a wonderful afternoon of baking and decorating.

Books That Inspired Us:

Do you bake & decorate gingerbread cookies at your home?

What other Christmas traditions do you have?

Bern

Marble Paint Gingerbread Man

The Littlest Diva and I had some crafting time all to ourselves last week.

We were going to make Gingerbread Men
so I asked her how she wanted to do it
& she promptly replied - "in the marble box, Mommy"

Great idea!

Marble Paint Gingerbread Man

What You Need:

gingerbread man cutout ( we used cardboard)

box

brown paint

marbles

various pom poms, button, sequins, etc for decorating

wiggly eyes & yarn for mouth (optional)

What To Do:

1. Tape template to box and add some paint & marbles

2. Shake, Shake, Shake! 

Shaking the marbles around - by far her favorite part!

3. Shake until the template is nicely coated in paint.

Do a little dance, a few jumps, run in place - make it FUN!

Note - close the box & let them at it! 

They will enjoy it and the mess stays in the box.

Looks like a mess but it was FUN to do!

4. Let your gingerbread man dry.

5. Put out various craft supplies (pom poms, buttons, sequins, etc)

and let children decorate as desired.

My Lil Diva was so proud of her Gingerbread Man.

There are so many versions of the Gingerbread Man Story
Here are a few of the Books We Read:

Have you made any gingerbread crafts lately? 

I'd love to hear about what you did - 

comment below & be sure to add a link if you have one!

Bern

Play to Learn: Gingerbread Man Sight Word Cookie & Number Matching Game

During our Gingerbread Theme this week, 

we have had some fun playing learning games.

Gingerbread Man Sight Word Cookie Game

To practice recent sight words with the Oldest Diva we played this game.

What You Need:

gingerbread cookie cut outs

gingerbread cookie cutter

large piece of brown felt

spatula

marker

How To Play:

1. All the gingerbread cookies were placed on our big piece of "felt" dough. 

2. The Lil Divas used a cookie cutter to cut out a gingerbread cookie.

3. In order to put the cookie on their baking sheet they had to correctly read the word written on it.

4. The first person to fill up their cookie sheet was the winner & they got to "bake" their cookies in the oven.

The Lil Divas had fun playing this one over & over again.

*************************

Gingerbread Man Number Matching Game

Gingerbread Man Cookie Number Matching/Memory Game
http://momto2poshlildivas.blogspot.com

I am still working with the Littlest Diva on her number recognition (10-20 & beyond). Lately, she has been pretty stubborn about not wanting to do it. She does enjoy memory/matching games so I decided to combine the two in the hopes that she would spend a bit of time practicing her number recognition.

What You Need:

gingerbread cookie cut outs

marker

box, cookie jar or basket

How To Play:

1. Make 2 matching gingerbread cookie cut-outs for each number

2. Place all numbers facedown

3. Child will turn over 2 cookies at a time, reading each number aloud, as they try to find a match.

4. If they find 2 of the same numbered cookies and they can read the numbers - they get to keep the cards. If they can not identify the numbers the cookies go into the cookie jar.

5. Continue until all cookies have been matched.

6. At the end of the game, spend time reviewing the numbers of any cookies in the cookie jar.

Have fun playing & learning!

Bern

Preschool Fun: Gingerbread Play Dough

It's Gingerbread Week here in Diva Land!

To kick things off the Lil Divas & I made some

  gingerbread play dough

This is another great smelling easy play dough recipe.

I was inspired by The Imagination Tree's recipe

I added some more spice because my girls like it strong.

P.S. If you have not made any of her play dough-

you must try it!

Gingerbread Play Dough Recipe:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

2 tbs. cream of tartar

3 tbs. ginger

2 tbs. cinnamon

2 tbs. nutmeg

2 tbs. vegetable oil

1.5 cups boiling water

Directions:

Note: I have cooked this play dough on the stovetop and right in a bowl with boiling water that I microwaved - both worked well.

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a pan or bowl.

2. Add in the vegetable oil.

3. Add boiling water and mix. Allow some cooling time - it will be hot to the touch!

4. Knead until mixture is soft and not sticking to your fingers, bowl, work surface, etc...

You may need to add some extra flour - I put some right onto my counter and knead it there.

Sniff & Enjoy your play dough!

The Lil Divas used gingerbread man shaped cookie cutters to make Gingerbread Boys & Girls.

They added details by using wiggly eyes, sequins, beads and pom poms.

Enjoy this yummy smelling play dough!

Bern

G is For Gingerbread - Day 3 & 4

I just realized how behind I was on my Learning Fun posts! I never finished posting our G is for Gingerbread activities and we are already in to S is for Snow, Snowflake & Snowman! :(

Here are a few more of our G is for Gingerbread activities:

Day 3 consisted of making Gingerbread Cookies (I forgot to take pics of our final products before I let the girls eat them!)

The girls had fun using the cookie cutters to make the Gingerbread Men. We also used Alphabet Cutters to make their nicknames because I did not want to make too many of the Gingerbread Men. I didn't wnat to get stuck decorating tons of them, lol!

We used Little tubes of colored icing to make eyes, a nose, a mouth and some buttons on most of them. The Lil Divas made 1 special one each. They turned them into Gingerbread Girls with hair and clothes! :) So cute!

We also visited Starfall's Gingerbread Man online activity which was very cute! You get to decorate a Gingerbread Man but I think the girls fave part was the end! The final product is animated and he runs and jumps all over the screen - we watched it over and over!

Day 4 - Gingerbread Alphabet Match Activity courtesy of childcareland.com

I printed out the pieces and laminated them for durabilty. I only used the lower case letter circles because the girls know their upper case letters and I wanted to review matching the lower case letters to their upper case counter part. Both upper and lower case letters are available via the link for use as needed. This is a free printable and it's in color & very cute! I love when I find good resources that are also FREE!

Day 5 Wrap-up coming soon!

Bern

G is for Gingerbread - Lacing, Tracing & Matching Fun

Feeling a bit better today than yesterday so I actually laminated some things & we got to playing!

Here's what we did today:

1. Gingerbread Cookie Matching/Memory Game - we used these cute cookie cards  from prekinders.com . The girls really enjoy these matching/memory games & we played several rounds!

2. Letter G Puzzle - I showed them the laminated G first so they could see how it was supposed to look. Then I gave them the pieces and let them put the puzzle together. The Littlest Diva used the original to help her form the letter but The Oldest Diva did it one her own by trial and error to make it a bit more challenging for her.

3. Letter Gg Tracing -  I printed the Letter Gg template from kidslearningstation.com. I went over the proper way to trace both letters (one at a time) and the girls went to work! They are so hardworking and serious when they are writing - they are just too cute!!

4. Letter G Lacing  - I laminated a large letter G and used a hole puncher to punch holes all around. The girls then laced it up in a variety of ways.