(Recommended for kindergarten through fifth grade)
If time allows you could read the book The Legend of the Candy Cane, written by Lori Walburg. This book is a sweet book, which tells the story of the candy maker, John Sonneman, who is new to town. A curious little girl, Lucy, visits him, helps him unpack and then discovers a new candy, the candy cane. He explains the candy cane and they together give each family in the town a candy cane for Christmas.
 | (Turn it upside down) J is for Jesus, who was born on Christmas day. (Turn it upright) What does it remind you of? Who was the first to find out about Jesus’ birth? (After hearing their answers) The shepherds in the field watching their flocks at night were the first to hear the angels. This represents the shepherd’s crook that they used to herd sheep. |
| Do you see the stripes? The Bible says, “By his stripes we are healed. |
| See the red stripe? Before he died on the cross, Jesus was whipped. He bled terribly. The red reminds us of His suffering and the blood He shed for us. Red also reminds us how much He loves us. What is the color of the hearts we send on Valentines Day? Red! |
| See the white stripe? The white is there because we often do bad things leaving us “dirty” inside. Christians believe when Jesus died, He took on Himself the punishment for our bad things. This leaves us “clean”, white inside. |
| So when you eat your candy canes this Christmas remember J is for Jesus. |
Just give presentation #1 and add this paragraph after talking about the stripes:
| What flavor is a candy cane? Yes, it is peppermint. Peppermint is a spice similar to hyssop. Hyssop is an herb used in the Bible for healing. Christians believe that Jesus can heal the inside of us He changes us from wanting to live bad to wanting to live good lives. |
There once was a candy maker who wanted to make a candy that would be very special for Christmas. He decided to make a candy cane because he knew he could include a lot of signs and symbols to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.
He began with a stick of pure white hard candy. He used white as a symbol that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary who was always so pure and holy. He made it hard and crunchy to symbolize the solid rock on which the church is founded.
He bent over the top of the candy cane to make a hook like a shepherd’s staff. He remembered that Jesus called himself “The Good Shepherd” The candy maker remembered too that the first people who come to worship Jesus at the manger after he was born were shepherds. Then the candy maker looked at his candy cane and thought it looked a little plain. “It needs some color,” he said. Something red,” he thought. “That will give it Christmas look!” So, he began to stain the white candy cane with red stripes. First, he put on three thin red stripes. You see, he remembered that Jesus went through terrible torture before he died and was whipped across his back. The candy maker decided that the red stripes on the candy cane would remind everybody that Jesus shed his blood for us when he died on the cross on Good Friday.
The candy maker was doing well with his candy cane. He had a lot signs of Jesus in there but he wasn’t satisfied. Then he began to pray, “Dear Jesus, help me to make my candy cane show the true meaning of Christmas.” Then suddenly the candy cane slipped from his hands. It fell upside down on the floor. When he looked, he noticed that the candy cane was no longer a candy cane, but it was the letter “J”. It stands for “Jesus.” Jesus is really what Christmas is all about.
A candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would be a witness, so he made the Christmas candy cane. He incorporated several symbol for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.
He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus; and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the church and firmness of the promises of God.
The candy maker made the candy in the form of a “J” to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior. It could also represent the staff of the “Good Shepherd” with which he reaches down into the world.
Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candy maker stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received by which we are healed. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ.
In years to come the candy became known only as a candy cane – a meaningless decoration. But the meaning is still there for those who know. I pray that this symbol will again be used to witness TO THE WONDER OF JESUS AND HIS GREAT LOVE that came down at Christmas.
http://www.greatcom.org/resources/sharing_in_the_classroom/christmas_sharing/legendofcandycane.htm
The Christmas ornament dough recipes on this page are for several different types of ornament dough, including ornaments made from salt, oatmeal, cornstarch, and spices. If you're looking for a specific recipe for cinnamon ornament dough, you'll find that --and instructions for making homemade cinnamon ornaments-- here! LINK
You remember that dough you used as a kid to make three-dimensional maps in school? This homemade Christmas ornament recipe is exactly the same stuff! And it's just as good for making Christmas decorations as it was for all of your elementary school products. It's also easy and ultra cheap. Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1.5 cups water
Mix: Mix the flour, salt and water together until well combined.
Create: Roll this dough out on a floured surface where you can cut out whatever shapes you want (cookie cutters are the perfect way to do this!). Alternatively, you can make three dimensional decorations (like snowmen) by using a ball of the salt dough and carving it into whatever images you want. You'd be amazed at how detailed you can get here.
Remember to build in a hole through which you can thread a ribbon or string so the final ornament hangs properly. (The end of a straw is good for this.)
Bake: When you're done making the basic image you'll need to bake your Christmas ornament dough at 300 degrees for half an hour.
Decorate! Once removed from the oven, cool your ornaments completely before adding paint or glitter. Hint: Nail polish makes awesome glossy paint, and it comes in wonderful Christmas colors.
Note: By the way, some people add 1 tbs. vegetable oil to this mix so it forms more of a "clay" – you can try it both ways to see which result you like best.
This doesn't make all that many ornaments, so I'd suggest doubling or tripling the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 cup Applesauce
1 1/2 cups ground ginger, allspice, cinnamon and clove (mixed as desired)
Mix: In a large mixing bowl, mix your ingredients together. If your dough seems crumbly you can add more applesauce or even just plain water.
Create: As with the Salt dough, you can use this to make 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional ornaments.
Cook: Once shaped the dough needs to cook for an hour at 200 degrees F., then cool completely before decorating. You can also leave the ornaments to air dry for several days if you have the time.
Decorate! Decorate as desired with glitter, paint, googly eyes, cotton pom-poms, you name it. You can even recycle old holiday cards or wrapping paper by taking colorful cuttings from them, gluing them to the ornament, then adding a few clear final coats of paint (decoupage style).
Ingredients:
1 cup oatmeal (not instant)
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup water
Food coloring
Mix: Mix your dough together, adding more flour or water to get the texture desired. Food coloring can go into this mix-- strongly pigmented food colorings, like past food coloring, tend to work best.
Shape: Shape as desired using cookie cutters or rolling into different shapes.
Dry: This dough requires no cooking – just let it dry completely at room temperature for 24 hours.
Decorate! Paint and design as desired. When tinting this Christmas ornament dough, you can tint the whole batch, or you can cut the dough into small balls and color each differently. For example, you could make red and green dough to make a 2-d Christmas tree with red bulbs on it.
Ingredients:
2 cups baking soda
2 cups corn starch
1 cup plus a little, cold water
Mix: Mix the baking soda, corn starch and water together in a pot over a low flame. Stir constantly until you're happy with the texture of the dough. You can add color to this base if desired.
Cool and Shape: Let cool slightly and shape as desired. Note that when shaping cornstarch dough Christmas ornaments, you'll want to fashion the item larger than you want-- it'll shrink by about 30%.
Dry: The final ornament will need to dry for 2 days at room temperature before you decorate it. The surface of cornstarch dough can be sanded for a smoother look, if desired.
Decorate! These white ornaments look pretty left plain, or with a little bit of glitter or silver paint along the edges. Or you could make something like a snowman with full painted features. Whatever you like!
