CONNECT Magazine Vol 1 - Issue 4 | Page 14

Kids The holidays can be a stressful time for families, but why not make them fun by including the kids in some activities to help prepare for the holiday? Here are some ideas of fun activities you can do with the kids this holiday season . Gingerbread Men, Women & House One of the more traditional crafts you can do, is to make a gingerbread house and people. How do you do that? You Will Need:  Gingerbread cut into 2 squares with an eave-shape, 4 rectangles, and people  White frosting  Decorating bags and tips (any you’d prefer)  Food coloring Courtesy of: New York TImes  Assorted candies Use food coloring to color your icing ahead of time. 1) Take one gingerbread square and use decorating bag to squeeze frosting onto the edges. 2) Join gingerbread rectangles to the square and hold into place until frost- ing dries. 3) Continue to use frosting to adhere the other sides to the two already con- nected. This should form a rectangular base, with the two peaks on oppo- site sides. 4) Wait for the frosting to harden to ensure your pieces will stay. 5) Next, attach your roof! Pipe more frosting along the peaks and attach the last two rectangles to form the roof. 6) Once all of your icing hardens, it is time to decorate! Use the piping bag to pipe icing in any patterns you want now on the gingerbread, but don’t forget windows and doors. Some kits come with stencils as well, so you can make fun patterns on your pieces! 7) Gingerbread people are much easier, as there is no assembly re- quired. Simply using icing as a glue, and attach candy pieces you so de- sire. Suggestions: Gumdrops, M&Ms, Reeses Pieces, Red Hot Cinnamon candy, skittles. Try to stay away from candy bars. 8) Add some extra icing in places where you wish to attach candy pieces, and use it as a glue to do so. Enjoy! 14