Provide students with dough for making gingerbread cookies. Roll out the dough and use gingerbread man shaped cookie cutters to cut out the cookies. Decorate the cookies with frosting and candies, and then bake the cookies. Once the cookies are out of the oven and cooled, allow students to eat the cookies, recording what they notice about the varying tastes of the cookie, icing and candies. Alternatively, you could also make gingerbread cookies using several recipes and ask students to record differences between each cookie.
Read various picture books about gingerbread men, such as "The Gingerbread Man," by Karen Schmidt, "Gingerbread Man Superhero," by Dotti Enderle and Joe Kulka, or "The Gingerbread," by Janet Squires and Holly Berry. As you read the book, ask students about the different things happening in illustrations throughout the book.
Provide students with paper cutouts of a gingerbread man. Have the students decorate their gingerbread men using crayons, glitter and stickers, but make sure that they do not decorate the stomach. Apply glue to the gingerbread man's stomach and sprinkle with aromatic spices, such as cinnamon or ginger. Allow the glue to dry completely, and then gently scratch the stomachs to release the spice's aroma.
Provide students with materials needed to construct gingerbread houses. This includes icing, various types of candy, and gingerbread pieces pre-cut in the shapes for walls and roofs. Ask the students to build their house as they listen to classical music played by a variety of well-known composers. The music will help create calmness among the students while opening their minds to various composers.
Have students feel the gingerbread at various stages of preparation, and record their findings in a notebook. What does it feel like prior to cooking? Encourage the students to knead and press the dough in their hands. After baking, have the students feel the gingerbread when it first comes out of the oven, making sure to allow it to cool down enough that it doesn't burn anyone. Finally, have the students touch the gingerbread again once it is completely cooled. Additionally, you could submerge a cookie in water and have students report on the gingerbread's texture at that point.