Tell the Christmas story to your children while baking and decorating
this nativity scene
If you build it - they will have fun! Is one of your holiday traditions the
construction of a gingerbread house? How about a slight change for this year's
gingerbread activity? Constructing a gingerbread nativity scene together with
your children or grandchildren provides some "teachable" moments. Share the
message of Christmas as you teach them how to bake, decorate and assemble their
very own edible nativity scene.
The first step is to make the stable.
A recipe for gingerbread dough is provided and you will need to make 2
triangle forms with the provided cutter - the triangle is approximately 10".
After cooling, these 2 triangles will be joined together along one side with a
stiff icing (royal icing).
While you are building the stable
you can tell how Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem, but when they arrived
there was no place to stay except in the stable with the animals.
Using the same kind of icing, you can
"fastened" the stable to a large flat heavy surface or base. You might want to flip over a jelly roll pan to use as base. Or for a smaller base - you could
use a 10 x 14 tuffboard. The ideal base size would be 15" x 20". Place the
stable towards the back of the base so you can leave room for the other
characters in the scene.
The animals and people are made from
a cookie dough recipe that is included. To decorate, you will want to use a
thinner glaze icing that is easy to tint to the colors you desire. A recipe is
also included for this type of icing. Decorate the characters and let dry.
While you are decorating each
cookie character, you can explain who they are - the main characters of Joseph,
Mary and baby Jesus. Then when you add the wiseman, you can tell how they came
from a very far land just to see this newborn baby.
Using
the same stiff icing that you used for the stable, adhere or "paste" the
characters on the base in the position you want. You will want to use toothpicks
to prop up these "cookie" characters until the icing hardens. Instructions for
this procedure are also included.
The Nativity Bake Set comes with
cutters, icing bag, couplings, 2 tips and complete instructions and recipes.
When finished, display your "edible" Nativity scene for all to see.
Maybe this would be the time to
tell the whole story from beginning to end and the children can observe how
everyone came together to this special place and what Christmas is all about.
