Things You'll Need:
- Gingerbread cookies cut in shapes of boys and girls (3 or 4 of these for each guest)
- White icing
- Assortment of miniature candies for decorating
- Plastic cups and knives (one for each child)
- Gingerbread cake mix, oil, eggs, and water (or use your own recipe if you prefer)
- Whipped cream
- Apple juice and/or milk
- A “gingerbread man” cut from brown posterboard
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Step 1
Escort children into the “cookie factory.” Lead children to a table where you have set out the gingerbread cookies, individual plastic cups of icing with plastic knives and an assortment of miniature candies. Give children each a snack-size plastic bag and tell them they may put five candies inside to eat with the refreshments later. No other candies can be eaten. The rest must be used to decorate the gingerbread men.
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Step 2
Show the children how to spread the icing on the cookie and stick on the candies. Have paper towels laid out on the counter for each child, labeled with their names. As a child finishes decorating each cookie, set it on her paper towel while the frosting dries.
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Step 3
Read the story, “The Gingerbread Man” (which you can get at the library). Encourage children to call out in unison “. . . and I can run away from you” as those words come up repeatedly in the story.
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Step 4
Play “Hide the Gingerbread Man.” Tell children that the gingerbread man is still running away. Have them take turns hiding a gingerbread man cut from brown poster board. The child who finds the gingerbread man is the next one to hide it. Alternately—or in addition to this game—let children take turns being the gingerbread man and hiding.
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Step 5
Serve refreshments. Along with their little bags of candies, serve children squares of gingerbread cake topped with a small dollop of whipped cream. Apple juice makes a nice accompaniment, but you might want to have milk available as well.
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Step 6
Send children home with the gingerbread men they decorated in individual plastic bags.
