Gingerbread Christmas Book and Activities
I earn a commission from products purchased through links in this post.
Gingerbread and Christmas just seem to go together. There are many gingerbread books available, but Gingerbread Christmas by Jan Brett is one my favorites.
Gingerbread Baby wants to play in a band for the village Christmas Festival, so his human friend Matti decides to bake a batch of gingerbread instruments. He peeks into the oven and the gingerbread musical instruments escape.
The newly formed gingerbread band plays beautiful music for the town. It was going well until the villagers realized that the band was made out of cookies.
Gingerbread Baby and the instruments are in danger! Matti comes up with a creative solution to hide the band.
Jan Brett books are always beautifully illustrated and Gingerbread Christmas is no different. These activities are a fun addition to the Gingerbread Christmas book.
Gingerbread Christmas Book and Activities
Gingerbread Cookies
Baking and decorating gingerbread cookies is a common Christmas Advent activity.
Kids can use standard gingerbread cookie cutters to decorate their own Gingerbread Baby. A few peppermint candy buttons will recreate the character in the book, but they can also create any gingerbread person they like.
Gingerbread Baby’s gingerbread band is full of animated musical instruments. A few special cookie cutters will let kids recreate the gingerbread Christmas.
- Culimi Cookie cutter set
Last update on 2026-09-16 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Gingerbread can be a bit of an acquired taste. I once supervised a field trip to a historical house that served traditional gingerbread during the kitchen tour. The vast majority of the kids took one bite and threw the rest in the trash.
Technically, the activity is to create gingerbread people, but sugar cookies will work too. Make whichever your family prefers. There is no point in making gingerbread cookies if your kiddos hate gingerbread.
Last update on 2026-09-16 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Graham Cracker Village
The Gingerbread Baby plays with his gingerbread band in the village during the Christmas Festival. Baking gingerbread cookies is a fun and traditional Christmas activity, but let’s go a step further and give the Gingerbread Baby a cookie village!
My kids have always enjoyed decorating gingerbread houses every December, but I am horrible at actually building the houses. I can never get the royal icing the right consistency. Walls fall down or the roof slides off. It is really frustrating.
To make this gingerbread Christmas village a little more fun and a little less frustrating, we will make it lying flat. It is all the fun and less work.
Materials:
- Graham crackers
- Frosting
- Food coloring (optional)
- Christmas candies
- Sprinkles (optional)
Village buildings come in all different styles, so there are no set directions for creating a gingerbread Christmas village.
In general, arrange the graham crackers as the buildings. They can be broken into squares, horizontal rectangles to be a large building, or turned vertically to be cookie apartments.
Add frosting, even piping it if your kids would like to give that a try. Dyeing some of the frosting is one way to personalize the cookie buildings.
Add Christmas candy features. Miniature candy bars make great chimneys and doors. Sprinkles can also be added as decoration.
Gingerbread Crafts
Gingerbread books are a natural fit for crafts, but you are not limited to just food activities. These crafts are a way to extend the gingerbread fun without any extra baking.
- Decorate a scented gingerbread person
- Make an ornament
- Create a festive garland
- Make a gingerbread wreath
This post is part of the 12 Days of Sweet Christmas Activities series. Make sure to check out the series landing page to check out the other posts for sweet book and snack pairings!
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Keep reading . . .
- Awesome Christmas Homeschool Activities
- The Best Gingerbread Books
- Gingerbread Day
- Free Printable Christmas Homeschool Planner
- Christmas Unit Studies for Homeschool Lessons
- The Best Books to Learn About Christmas Around the World
- 12 Sweet Christmas Books and Activities
- December Homeschool Activities