Lebkuchen: getting ready for Advent

OK, so the run up to the big day is already looming and the children are getting fired up about the festive season. My town had its light switch on on Sunday and the children are now buzzing. Its a hard time of the year to keep it all calm and flowing. So what theme shall we apply this week which nods its head towards Christmas but still keeps it at bay.

Gingerbread? Good idea!

My inspiration on this comes from an old favourite of mine, my friend Rhoda at http://www.waldorfcurriculum.com/  Many moons ago she published a series of newsletters on her site that suggested themes for most weeks of the year.(I think they are still available)  At times like this I use them to shape my own thinking. This weeks is called Lebkuchen.

So our books for the week are:
The Gingerbread Man  A traditional tale that we all love, my own copy is my pride and joy- my niece wrote an illustrated a copy just for me and my Pixies when she finished her illustrators degree this year. Suitable for all ages. This will be supported by the puppet box coming out to encourage the opportunity to re-tell the tale with a puppet show.

Maisy's Gingerbread for my younger Pixies.  We will follow this up by making gingerbread cookies on Thursday.
Hansel and Gretel for my older Pixies. This particular version of the story is stunning in its illustrations and well deserves its award. On Friday we will introduce our Hexen House (recipe here) Which keeps the interest of the children until the advent scenes arrive. The leftover dough will keep and become decorated ornaments for our Christmas tree very soon.
And at the end of the day our chapter book is the Gingerbread Rabbit A sweet tale that addresses the need for friends.

Crafts wise we will be making collage gingerbread men to take home, as well as our yummy cookies on Thursday.

This is our craft session, at first we made gingerbread shapes and then the Pixies decided that they wanted to make Puppets too. So the shiny purple fox ( "because pixie likes purple!) and the gingerbread man was born. ( the wooden sticks are coffee stirrers that I always end up bringing home in a handful. Thank you big corporate stores!)Now being played with with glee. I love spontaneity- I never do a 'here's one I made earlier' to copy rather preferring talking through the ideas and then watching as the Pixies create their own.