I owe the inspiration for this post to S.  We were sitting drawing and decorating some gingerbread men on paper and she sighed "I wish we could make them smell good!".  I thought for a minute and came up with this.  These guys were super fun to make and oh my goodness, they are fabulous little room fresheners.  The room we have them hanging in smells just like delicious gingerbread goodness!!!

First you'll need some sturdy paper.  We used colored cardstock.  If you don't have any cardstock lying around, the back of a cereal box would work perfectly.  Freehand draw a gingerbread man outline, trace a cookie cutter, or any gingerbread man shaped thing you have in the house (we had an ornament - score!).

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Next cut out your gingerbread man with scissors.  I found the easiest way was to poke a hole through the center of him and then cut along the lines.  Once you have a piece of paper with a gingerbread man sized hole in it - grab some contact paper and cut a rectangle large enough to cover him.  Peel and stick your contact paper over the opening.  Flip your paper over and present to your child such that the gingerbread man is sticky.  S opted to have me cut "two chocolate noses, two red smiles, and some circle buttons".  She placed them like so.  (We used foam - but you can easily use paper or construction paper)

As I was gathering spices for the next step, she finally decided to cut some decorations herself and add a few finishing touches.  I think all that bonus orange frosting is going to make them extra delicious, don't you?  Be sure to give all the added bits an extra push to make sure they are secure before moving on to the next step - adding the scent!!!!  I provided cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and cloves.  S went to town adding bits of each all over the gingerbread men.

There was a LOT of this.  Which was understandable.  They really did smell AMAZING.

Once you've added enough spice, tap the extra into a container.  These leftovers are great for gingerbead scented play - you could add them to Cornstarch and Water or you could add them to Cloud Dough or you could add them to Salt Dough and make scented ornaments.  Or Playdough.  Lots of possibilities.

Here's finished gingerbread man number one:

And number two:

They are currently making a wall in our house look super cute and smell super delicious!