Today is National Gingerbread Cookie Day and your kids will love this fun selfie salt dough gingerbread kids activity. Add this fun craft to my winter season unit study.
If you are not a fan of edible gingerbread, I have a fun activity for you.
Turn these salt dough gingerbread men into a cute little 3D or even an entire family portrait.
Kids can recreate themselves, favorite book characters, historical figures, or any other person they like.
This is a great way to spend a chilly winter afternoon and would be the perfect activity for an all about me unit, or to give to a kid that loves taking selfies a different outlet for that creativity.
Use paints, paint pens, and other craft items to create custom gingerbread men.
Great Gingerbread Facts
- The term gingerbread is from the Latin term zingiber via an old French word-gingebra, meaning preserved ginger.
- The first known recipe for gingerbread came from Greece in 2400 BC.
- Nuremberg, Germany is known as the “Gingerbread Capital of the World”.
- Ginger not only tastes good, but it also helps act as a preservative.
- It is believed gingerbread was brought back by returning crusaders from the middle east where it was custom to bake spicy bread.
- There are 2 dates for National Gingerbread day- June 5th and November 21st (the 21st is actually National Gingerbread Cookie Day.
- Queen Elizabeth I of England is credited with the first gingerbread men.
- Once, a doctor even wrote a prescription for gingerbread for the Swedish King Hans to cure his depression.
- Ginger is a plant that is native to India and China. And is prized throughout the world for its culinary and medicinal uses.
- Gingerbread itself is made from ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, anise and is sweetened with molasses or honey.
- After Hansel and Gretel was published by the Brothers Grimm in the 19th century, gingerbread houses became very popular to make in Germany.
The world’s largest gingerbread house took 9 days to build, and was completed at the Mall of America in Minnesota in 2001.
It stood 67 feet tall and held 1,800 Hershey bars, 1,200 feet of Twizzlers, 100 pounds of tootsie rolls, 100 whirly pops and thousands of other pieces of candy. YUM!
Next, look at these fun hands-on gingerbread activities.
Gingerbread Activities
- Create a batch of Gingerbread Playdough to use over and over.
- Try some ooey gooey Gingerbread Slime, kids love sensory stimulating activities, warning, this one is messy.
- Make up a bowl of Gingerbread Oobleck, they can’t resist this non Newtonian fluid for sensory bins.
Bake up a Simple Gingerbread Recipe for Kids if you want to taste your creation.
More Winter Unit Study Resources
Additionally, look at these other winter unit study resources.
- How to Make an Adorable Toilet Roll Snowman for Winter Crafts
- Easy and Fun Pinecone Snowy Owl Winter Craft for Kindergarten
- Free Amazing Winter Unit Study and Winter Lapbook for Kids
- Easy Hands on Snowflake Winter Craft for Kids Who Don’t Have Snow
- Winter Nature Craft: How to Make Easy DIY Bird Feeders
- 3 Fun Cocoa Winter Hands on Science Activities
- How to Make an Easy Build a Snowman Kid’s Game (free printable cube)
Further, look below at how to make this fun salt dough craft.
How to Create a Selfie Salt Dough Gingerbread Men
First, here is the list of ingredients.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup fine salt
- 1 cup of water
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- Gingerbread cutters
- Craft paints or paint pens
- paintbrushes
Next, preheat your oven to 200℉.
And combine all of the dry ingredients together. Mix well.
Also, slowly add water until fully incorporated.
You can add a little brown or tan paint at this point to create different skin tones if you want.
Roll the dough out onto a floured surface until it’s about ¼” thick.
Cut dough into gingerbread shapes with a cutter, or other shapes if you wish.
If you want to hang your gingerbread selfie man, use a straw to poke a hole through the top before baking, be sure not to do it too close to the edge so it will be sturdy.
Spray the baking sheet with some nonstick cooking spray.
Transfer cut outs to the baking sheet and spritz the top of the cut outs with nonstick spray as well to help retain some color.
What’s more you can also use aluminum foil as a framework to bend the arms and hold them into place, make them sit up, and more.
Then, put in a preheated oven and bake for 2 hours or until thoroughly dry. Time may vary based on the thickness of your dough.
Once your dough is baked, allow it to cool completely.
Furthermore, use craft paints to decorate your ginger people with hair, faces, clothes, and other details.
Lastly, allow paint to dry thoroughly before using your gingerbread for decorations, playing pieces for games, in sensory bins, or even to make your own jewelry!
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