Student-Created Gingerbread Variations

I'm sure many of you have read multiple versions of The Gingerbread Man story.  I decided to take it a step further this year and have my kids work in teams to create their own gingerbread story.

After reading 5 or 6 different versions of gingerbread stories, I put my students into groups to create their own gingerbread story.  I gave each group a gingerbread cutout and had art supplies in a central spot for everyone to use.

Students first decided what type of gingerbread character they wanted to create.  They filled out a packet that included: character, who created it, where it ran, who chased it, what happened to it (got away, got caught, etc) and what it repeated as it ran away.  I created a document for students to record this information, and I'm including it for you here. Below is an example of the page where they wrote about what he repeats.

Once students decided on the details for their new gingerbread character, they set out to create their character.  The one you see at the top of the post is the Gingerbread Elf.  We also had a Gingerbread Cat, Gingerbread Queen, Gingerbread Cheetah and Gingerbread Dog.

Gingerbread Queen- Do you see her magic wand?

Gingerbread Cheetah

Gingerbread Cat

Gingerbread Dog

I know it is a little late to use this project this year, though I've heard that some do gingerbread in January.  I would like to try this with other projects, such as possibly a snowman. Students would create a snowman and send him on an adventure (after Snowmen at Night).  This could be fun to do with fairy tale variations as well.  Do you have other ideas for how this idea could be used in your classroom?