The Gingerbread Man

This is a little playmat to tell the story of the Gingerbread Man. He can run out of the baker's shop and down the path until he gets to the river. There the hungry fox is waiting in his cave. I like to think, in a moment of kindness, this time the fox will help the Gingerbread Man get over the river to safety.

The mat is felt appliqued onto whatever came to hand for backing and wadding (a piece of an old duvet cover, a bit of old shirt and some left over curtain material). The stable door and the gate can both be opened, and I pondered making the house doors open too, but I wanted to keep it simple for play purposes. However, I couldn't resist adding a bit of embroidery on the houses, a rabbit with a pompom tail, and a tiny horse in the stable. As you can see, there was absolutely no consideration given to keeping things to scale! 

The Gingerbread Man and the Fox are both made of felt and stuffed very slightly. The fox's tail and face had a bit of white wool needle felted in to add the detail, and the eyes and buttons are tiny beads, sewn on very securely. The finished mat measures 13 by 10 inches, and the Gingerbread Man is about 2 inches high.