Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Have you seen the Gingerbread Man?

A few months ago, I came across an interesting hobby which harkens back to earlier years, where pen pals found through the Garfield monthly magazine were the norm (as was waiting weeks for a reply to any correspondence).

The fun of collecting stationery, and receiving interesting letters/postcards from around the world has surprised me. And I find it funny how hand written correspondence has become an oddity in today's world of instant messaging.

Every now and then, you come across a particularly fun project.

Take for instance this class postcard project:

Mrs Schindler's Kindergarten Class have a Gingerbread Man in their classroom. They will read stories about him, until one day he will disappear and they will discover he has run away (like in the story). The class will make a plan to get him back and try to solve the mystery of where he went.

They need people to send postcards from around the world to report sightings of their missing friend. They will map each postcard and track his journey.

If you'd like to join in the fun of Jinjee spotting, send a postcard to the address below keeping the following points in mind:
  • Begin each postcard with "Dear Madison".
  • Say that you were doing something ordinary when you spotted the Gingerbread Man.
  • Report that you tried to stop him, but he turned and shouted "Run, run, as fast as you can. you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!"
  • Mail them to:
        Mrs. Schindler's Kindergarten Class
      Nottingham Country Elementary
      20500 Kingsland Blvd
      Katy, TX 77450
      USA

Here's the one I'm sending. Don't you just love the stamps? I bought them at the Brooklyn Post Office. They ask interesting questions regarding facts (most are about South African history), and then the person who receives the postcard gets to scratch the gold ink off to see the answer (like a lotto card). How clever!


















Speaking of Gingerbread Men, here's a link to a gluten-free, corn-free, egg-free gingerbread recipe:

GF Jinjee Biscuits

P.S. If you're interested in doing some writing, Postcrossing is a fun place to start, as you are guaranteed to get replies from all over the world (and writing postcards is quick and fun, as is shopping for them [or even designing your own on zazzle.com]).

9 comments:

Stacey @ bakercourt said...

Hello! I've just come back to the internet after a little breakee, and what do I find? That you share my delight in gingerbread men! I LOVE the postcard idea - I have a book of colour-in postcards that are ideal for this kind of thing (I'm going to seek them RIGHT NOW). And, I love gingerbread (wo)men. Fantastic. Your blog posts are lovely, as always xxx

Juanita said...

Welcome back! Your wedding photos are so lovely. I'm so glad the day turned out so well!

I think these sorts of random mail calls are such fun. I love that this will be used for literacy as well.

Juanita said...

And P.S. Thank you for the kind compliment! :-)

oomph. said...

this is such a cute and ingenious idea! i may tell mini-she to send one!

[oomph.]
What's the next line? Help write the story!

Anonymous said...

hahahahahahahahahahha,..;..The gingerbread man!
I love gingerbread: gf or not!

Thanks for this tasty recipe! :)

TheSnailMailer said...

HEy there! I know for a fact that the GB Man was in Bethlehem! And I see us letter blogger have pulled you to the darkside. I am so glad I came by today though as I got your postcard, but had no clue about the scratch off part! What a thrill!
Hope this finds you well,
-b

Ms. Veronica's said...

This is such a cool idea. It's like the story that you tell in rounds with friends, each person ads a part and you just keep going around and around - such fun.

Hope you've been enjoying your summer.

Joyti said...

So cute :)
Hope you had a lovely Christmas :)

Lynn said...

What a cute idea and such a fun way to learn! Thanks for this lovely post, Juanita!

You might think I'm crazy but I could have sworn I saw the Gingerbread Man myself! He was swiping a gluten-free cookie from my cookie jar; then he ran "speedy-quick" right out of the kitchen! Hmmmm, this is indeed a mystery!i