Disguise a Gingerbread Man Library Contest

The directions and photos of disguised gingerbread men made by students with the words "Disguise a Gingerbread Man Library Contest"One of the most fun partnerships of my job was working with our school librarian. We worked Family Literacy Nights, Read Across America Celebrations, and our fun library contests! The library contests came about as a way to reach our kids and parents and engage them in fun activities that they would enjoy. We wanted our kids and parents to:

* love reading and love books.
* talk to each other about books.
* create something special together.

To do this, we invented our library contests! They were totally voluntary. One of our library contests that took place in December around the holiday season was Disguise a Gingerbread Man.

We hung posters around the school to let kids know we planned to host a contest focused on the gingerbread man story.

When students came to the library to ask about the contest, we provided a gingerbread man template on cardstock and the directions on a flyer. For this fun holiday season activity, we gave some cute ideas for different disguises that even a preschooler could do! 


Disguise a Gingerbread Man Library Contest

The kids had about three weeks to disguise their gingerbread man, gingerbread girl, or gingerbread baby as a character from a book they enjoy. Students were encouraged to create their gingerbread person using different art supplies, including crayons, markers, construction paper, glue, puffy paint, scissors, and other crafty materials.

They returned the completed disguised gingerbread person (with their name, teacher’s name, character name, and book title on the back) to the library by the due date. The disguising a gingerbread man contest was a huge hit. We received so many entries we needed a gingerbread house to keep them all in!

Student made gingerbread girl craft wearing pink with blonde hair for the Disguise a Gingerbread Man contestStudent made gingerbread racoon craft from the Kissing Hand with a heart on his hand for the Disguise a Gingerbread Man contestThis Disguise a Gingerbread Man contest was a great way to get kids responding to their reading and participating in a school-wide event! They had so many great ideas and they loved this project.Student made gingerbread craft for the Disguise a Gingerbread Man contest

Student made gingerbread Giving Tree craft for the Disguise a Gingerbread Man contest

Then we had a couple of judges identify the winners! We chose many, many winners because the prize was a big one. We booked a bus and a field trip to Barnes & Noble!

Our original idea was to give the winners gift cards to Barnes & Noble, but we realized that our population of kids might not be able to find transportation to get there to spend their card. So my incredible principal suggested the field trip!

We collected winners from the three contests in the fall (Disguise-a-Pumpkin, Turkey in Disguise, and Disguise a Gingerbread Man) and took them all to Barnes & Noble!

They gave each child a piece of chocolate and a tiny sample of a frappuccino (I don’t have to tell you how fancy the kids thought that  was!) and then the school paid for one book of the child’s choosing. It was a beautiful day!

To grab the editable version of these fun projects (and more: bunnies, snowmen, and designing bookmarks!) just head over to my TpT store!

 

2 Pumpkins disguised and 2 disguise a gingerbread man crafts with the words "Editable book projects for seasons and holidays"

 
 
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