Easy Gingerbread Ornaments for Preschoolers

Last Updated on October 20, 2025 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: Putting together these easy gingerbread ornaments is super simple. We love adding this Christmas activity to our gingerbread theme!

Ever since I first started teaching, I have kicked off our December themes with a gingerbread man theme.

This year I wanted to do something with salt dough, since my class loves playdough.

I found an easy recipe, added brown food coloring, and invited my preschoolers to create their own version of the gingerbread man!

Easy Gingerbread Ornaments for Preschoolers

Table of Contents

Each December our toddlers and preschoolers make ornaments for their family Christmas trees.

The week before winter break, we carefully wrap each ornament in tissue and place in handmade gift bags.

My hope is that these ornaments are cherished for years and years, wonderful reminders of their children’s young years.

We always make some sort of gingerbread ornament to go with our gingerbread theme, such as these cardboard gingerbread ornaments.

I loved how soft this salt dough was it and that small hands were able to manipulate it easily. Clean up was a breeze, too, because it hardly crumbled.

Watch: Our Favorite Gingerbread Circle Time Activities

What you will need:

Salt dough recipe
Brown coloring (add this to the salt dough)
Gingerbread man cookie cutter
Buttons
Googly eyes
Beads
Acrylic sealer
Ribbon

And any other embellishments you might like.

The Process:

First, I read a gingerbread man book. There are lots of variations of this book and we love to read several throughout the week.

Gingerbread Man Books

The Gingerbread Man (Easy to Read Folktales)
Gingerbread Baby (Jan Brett)
How to Catch a Gingerbread Man (Adam Wallace)
Ten Tiny Gingerbread Men (Tiger Tales)

Then, I set up a table for 6 children to work at a time, placing the materials in the middle.

Putting together these easy gingerbread ornaments is super simple. We love adding this Christmas activity to our gingerbread theme!

I found little gems that would work.

Googly eyes always add some personality!

I gave each child a ball of salt dough and a gingerbread man cookie cutter.

I had the preschoolers press their dough flat. I’ve found this works better than using rolling pins. I made sure they patted their hands in flour first so the dough did not stick to them.

Then, they adorned their gingerbread men with the googly eyes, buttons and beads. I took a pencil and created a small hole at the top of the ornament.

Let Air Dry

Let the gingerbread men air dry completely. The recipe says it takes around 48 hours, but we gave it a bit more time, making the gingerbread men on Monday and finishing the process on Friday. I turned mine over on day 3. You can see full directions for air drying salt dough here.

Note About Loose Pieces

If you notice loose pieces during the drying process, glue them in place. They need to be pressed firmly into the dough and sometimes fall out as the dough is drying. The acrylic sealer will help keep the pieces in place, too.