Cinnamon Dough Ornaments

I want to share with you a fun, aromatic, yearly tradition of making cinnamon dough ornaments. On the day we make these decorations the entire child care center smells absolutely wonderful and we love that! We get the same reaction from families when we make popcorn. It is important to our senses to surround ourselves with “good” smells. 

To begin gather a large bowl, mixing spoon, cookie cutters, ribbon and the 2 ingredients required for this recipe, cinnamon and applesauce. The amounts are listed below. Since there are only two ingredients in this recipe, cinnamon and applesauce, it is fairly easy to do with young children in a group childcare setting.

Making Cinnamon Dough Ornaments

Recipe

Cinnamon Dough

½ cup cinnamon

½ cup applesauce

Pour cinnamon and applesauce into a bowl. Mix until the mixture turns into dough.
It is so much fun to hear the children try to say “cinnamon” as we discuss and measure the ingredients for the project. Mix the ingredients together remembering to use rich vocabulary as you mix the dough.  Give each child a small ball to play with, this activity helps children to strengthen the small muscles in the hand which are used in writing! The dough also keeps the children busy and allows the parent/educator time to work individually with each child to roll out the dough for cutting with a cookie cutter.

Roll out your dough to your desired thickness. We have been rolling out 1/4” slabs. This thickness works well with special holiday shaped cookie cutters and it stays solid for putting a hole in for hanging.  We like to make snowflakes, Santa Claus, reindeer, snowmen and stars.  After you shape the dough poke a large hole with a straw in the top of the ornament This is for stringing after the ornaments dry.

The dough stores nicely in the refrigerator for several days if you want to return to the project.

It takes about four days for these ornaments to dry, please keep this in mind as you plan your holiday activities. Turn the ornaments daily for best results. We tie ours when dry with a pretty ribbon. Once they are dry they last for years and will retain their cinnamon scent for many, many seasons to come.

What is your favorite holiday tradition?