A couple of years ago my kiddos and I made these adorable and sweet-smelling gingerbread men ornaments and this year we once again put them on the tree. They were a lot of fun to make and each year when we unpack the tree decorations we make a bet to see if they remain as, ah, fragrant as they were when we first made them. 🙂 Some of the prep work will need to be done by someone responsible enough to use big scissors, but the rest is a lot of fun and very easy for children to do. Most of the supplies came from the dollar store with a couple from the bulk food store. Without further ado I give you Sandpaper Gingerbread Man Ornaments!
Supplies You Will Need:
- small sheets of sandpaper
- coloured construction paper or
- paint
- ribbon
- googly eyes
- bits of material
- assorted items to decorate with (we even used feathers!)
- glue
- 3- 4 sticks of cinnamon
- a couple of cloves of nutmeg
- a small piece of ginger root
- scissors
- hole punch
- paint brush
- gloves (optional)
Instructions:
The first thing I would do is cut out a template for the size of gingerbread man you want. Ours are about five inches tall and three inches wide. You can cut out your gingerbread men before hand or allow your children do so, but that will depend on their age. You can create a template on a plain piece of paper or save time and use the construction paper.
Once you have your template, trace it onto the smoothest side of the sandpaper, if there is one. The sandpaper I bought from the dollar store was rough on both sides, but it was a fine grade, so it was easy enough to work with. Cut out as many gingerbread men as you plan to make so they are ready for you to use.
Once your men are cut out, decide if you want to paint one side or use the coloured paper. We choose to paint ours, but you will need to factor in drying time so if your kiddos are eager to work on their craft you might prefer to use the paper. If you paint, pick the colour you want one side of the man to be and paint him. If you use the paper, you will need to cut out another gingerbread man and glue one sandpaper man to one coloured paper man.
Once your man is ready, use the hole punch to make a hole at the top of his head for ribbon.
Now comes the smelly part and you may want to put on gloves. 😉 Take a stick of cinnamon and gently, but firmly, rub it against the sandpaper back of your gingerbread man. Rub it over the entire piece and don’t be shy! You will notice that the fragrance of the cinnamon is rubbing off into the sandpaper! You can add the other spices, if you want or use them on different men. We used more than one spice to increase the scent and a couple of years later they are still fragrant. 🙂
Once you have finished with the spices you can decorate the front of your man. Glue on googly eyes, use either paint, paper or material to create his nose and mouth and then dress your gingerbread man up! You can create an outfit, add little dots for buttons or even just leave him naked. That part is up to you. 🙂
Finish your gingerbread man off with a piece of ribbon tied through the hole in the top, so he can hang from your tree and you’re done!
These cute little guys make great gift tags as well. I also found that the scent will last longer if you store them in a ziplock sandwich baggie when they are not on your tree.
What do you think; pretty easy and cute too, huh? 😉
Merry Christmas!
FT&PD
Suz
Well aren’t you a creative lady!! Wow, I really love this idea. I know my daughters and son would have a blast making them too. I pinned! Thank you so much for sharing……
What a fun craft for the senses.
What a fun craft to make with the kids we have a storm Warning for tomorrow and Christmas day so this might be a nice project
These are so neat. Very good idea of adding a scent to it!
These are cute and the kids would love making them.
I showed these to my hubby & daughter… they both thought they were cute! Kira wants to make some for her sister’s tree & wants to do her a set yearly but use trees/wreaths etc..change the theme yearly
This is such a great idea and easy for kids to do
I love the scent of cinnamon! I wish we did this! Maybe next year…
This is such a fun craft for kids to make plus it’s really creative
This is definitely one of the most creative craft Ideas I’ve seen so far!! Love it 🙂
My niece made these with the kids and they turned out nice and they smell amazing,wish i had taken some pics when i was at her house they were so cute !
This sounds like a fun craft idea for kids. I love the smell of cinnamon, I’ll have to try it next year!
How very Christmasy these are, not only are the gingerbread men but also have the scent of Christmas too. A great and the kids would no doubt have a ton of fun making these.
This is so awesome, I want to make some now, I love the scent of cinnamon and this is such a great craft to make with the grandkids!!
My boys have their own mini Christmas trees in their room. These ornaments would be awesome for them. We should make one a year so they will have a new one each Christmas.
What a cute craft!! I bet the kids love that they smell 🙂
what a great idea and such a fun craft to do! that is something I didn’t do to much with my girls that I wish I did. My oldest made a couple snowmen for our tree but next year I will definitely get both my girls more involved in making their own ornaments for the tree and christmas decor
What a great idea. These are a really neat craft project I will plan on doing next year with my niece and nephew
Such a crafty neat project! I think snowflakes would be cute!
What a neat idea – do you store them apart from the others? I mean, I don’t mind if they smell like cinnamon but I don’t want our christmas stockings to smell!
Great ideas , i would love to do this with my Grand kids , they would really enjoy it 🙂
I will have to try making these next year.
I think this is a super idea for Christmas time 🙂
What a great idea. Love the idea of the cinnamon scent.
I absolutely love homemade ornaments. They’re extra special for sure. Especially when they smell nice.
I love that these are scented! That’s awesome!
Looks like fun, and so cute.
I really like this idea, the Christmasy smell is ideal too. Great innovative idea. 🙂
I think this is a wonderful activity for children to prepare for Christmas. The cost is low and the result is fragrant and suitable for Christmas decorating.
adorable and great for day care centres for crafts.
What a great way to get creative for the Season
These are really cute and look like a fun and easy craft to do with kids.
Great craft idea for kids, Christmas is not that far away – have to start watching for new crafts to do.
Well, this is fun, for sure. I have lots of sandpaper too.
Would love the fragrance of cinnamon on my tree!
I’m amazed that the scent lasts so long on them that is amazing, a great craft for the kids to do and give as gifts to the grandparents
Great inexpensive craft idea, would of never thought sandpaper would hold in a sense.
my daughter will love making this craft. going to prep this for when she’s with her cousin so they can make it together