Cover the bulletin board in brown butcher paper. Use a black marker and create a house by drawing a door and windows. Pupils create decorations to outline the door and windows. Gumdrops are made by cutting circles out of red and green construction paper and covering them with glitter. Have them cut out candy cane shapes and paint red and green stripes on them. Another option is to arrange graham crackers on the bulletin board in the form of a house and have students decorate it with real candy.
Cover the bulletin board with aluminum foil to create the appearance of a large cookie sheet. Have each pupil cut out a gingerbread cookie shape from brown construction paper. Instruct them to glue googly eyes to the face and use markers to add a nose and mouth. Provide students with buttons or pom poms to glue to the body and ribbon or felt to decorate the arms and legs. Arrange the gingerbread people on the bulletin board in rows.
Use construction paper to make a large cookie jar. Add the label "Cookies" to the jar using a black marker. Attach the jar to the bulletin board. Pupils cut out gingerbread cookie outlines from brown construction paper. Provide them with markers or paint to decorate their cookies. Once decorated, students spread glitter glue on their outlines and sprinkle them with ground ginger to make them smell like real cookies. Let the outlines dry then arrange them around the cookie jar.
Divide the class into groups of two and provide each group with two large sheets of butcher paper. Each pupil traces her partner on the butcher paper, then they cut out their outlines to create life-sized gingerbread people. Pupils use markers to add facial features to their outlines. Provide them with construction paper to cut out buttons, belts and bows for their people. Hang the completed outlines on bulletin boards and along walls. Place the outlines close together to give the appearance of gingerbread people holding hands.