Climbing Gingerbread Man Activity for Kids

This past week the kids and I started doing Christmas activities and we are having so much fun. This climbing gingerbread man is a simple activity and my kids have been loving it.

Gingerbread men are something many people associate with Christmas, but even if it’s not during the Christmas season you can have fun with this activity.

This activity works perfectly as a book-themed activity for gingerbread baby or any other book about gingerbread men.

Gingerbread Baby Activity

Like I said above this activity is easy to pull together with only a few needed supplies and kids of all ages will love it.

Supplies

Printable Gingerbread Man and Gingerbread House {Get printable at the bottom of the post}
Plastic (or paper) disposable straw
Coloring supplies (crayons, markers, etc.)
Scissors
Tape
Yarn
Beads (optional)

How to Make a Climbing Gingerbread Man

To start this activity gather your supplies and print out the gingerbread man and Gingerbread house (printable at bottom of post).

Printing the gingerbread house is optional you can just have a climbing gingerbread man if you prefer.

My kids thought it was a lot of fun to have the gingerbread man climb to his gingerbread house, so personally, I would include the house since it makes it so much cuter.

After printing out your gingerbread man (and house) you can either cut them out or let the kids color them first.

If the kids are old enough have them color and then cut everything out. If they are younger I think it’s easier to have everything precut before you start the activity.

When the kids are decorating their pages you can pull out extra craft supplies like google eyes, glitter, pin poms, etc if you would like or keep it to a simple coloring activity.

Once everything is colored and cut out it’s time to get your gingerbread baby ready to climb.

Adding the “Climbing Gear”

First, cut the straw into 1 or 1 1/2 inch sections. You need two of these sections for each gingerbread man.

Get the two straw sections put them next to each other on the back (in the middle) of your gingerbread baby and tape them securely.

Make sure that the tape doesn’t cover the ends of the straws you need to be able to put a string through the straws.

Next, you’re going to measure how long you want the string and make sure it’s double before cutting it. Ours was about 4 to 5 feet of yarn. You can measure and cut the string as long as you want it to hang from the doorknob, hinge, or on the wall.

I wrapped tape around one end of the string to make it easy to push through the straw. Then pushed it up through one straw toward the top of the gingerbread man and back down the other straw, making a loop above the gingerbread man’s head.

On the bottom of each end of the string, I tied a bead so that the string wouldn’t slide back through the straw. But you can use anything you have on hand to do this. A large knot, foam stickers, or even fruit loops would work.

After getting the string all threaded pull up on the loop to find the center of the string. Tape the string to the back of your gingerbread house (if you decide to use it). Then tape gingerbread house securely a to wall or door.

If you don’t use the gingerbread house put the loop of the string on a doorknob, door hinge, or tape it to the wall.