Cinnamon Stars or Cinnamon Apple
If you cut an apple in slices horizontally the segments of the core form a star shape. If you want to emphasize the "star" portion of the story, you can slice the fruit this way, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. However, this method wastes a fair bit of the apple, since the top and bottom portions do not have the star centre. Alternatively you can demonstrate the "hidden star" with one apple, and slice and core the rest of the apples more conventionally, arrange them on a serving plate, then sprinkle them with the spice mix.
Cinnamon sugar is simple to make, just remember that it requires very little cinnamon in relation to the sugar (perhaps one T cinnamon to one cup of sugar).

Spice Cake
You may only have time for children to decorate the cake. Use any favourite spice cake recipe. I use one having 1 cup applesauce that makes it very moist. The spices represent the gifts of the magi.

Preferably, bake the cake in a tube (ring-shaped) pan. Traditionally, the ring shape represents the crown of a king. It can also represent the circular journey the magi took (i.e. returning home by a different way).

In class, make a simple butter icing. You might want to use yellow food colouring to represent the gift of gold. The children can spread on the icing, then decorate with a variety of "jewels" fit for a king. Gold and silver balls, glace cherries, assorted sprinkles -- I've even found star-shaped sprinkles!

King's Cake
Another tradition is to hide trinkets in the cake, sometimes one, sometimes three. The person finding a trinket is "king for a day", or if you want to focus on wisemen rather than kings, "blessed with wisdom"!

Traditionally, the trinkets were dried beans (e.g. white kidney beans), which can be inserted before or after baking. You could instead wrap coins in wax paper.

One church I know of had a tradition of wrapping a coin, a thimble, and a toy ring. All involved the idea of wisdom. The one finding the dollar coin was asked to invest it for a year and donate the proceeds (not a great task!). The person finding the ring was to make the cake for the following year (meaning they had to have a good memory!). The person finding the thimble had to make something for the church in the next year (e.g. a wall hanging, a floral arrangement, a shelf, or whatever). (See more about King's Cake in a another post - two down.)

WARNING: Avoid hiding anything that might break a tooth or be bad to swallow! Insert edible things (like different kinds of candy) from the bottom of the cake AFTER it is baked (so no one will know in advance which slice it will be in -- except the one cutting the cake should know where NOT to cut.) Not finding a "baby Jesus" or a "ring" may not be as exciting, but they're not worth breaking a tooth either.

King's Crown Cake

Posted by MMB:  Make a "Kings Crown" Cake. Usually made in a Bundt pan or a round pan and frosted with yellow/gold icing, the kids can add triangular cookies to make the points and decorate with gumdrops/candy "jewels".

Jesus' Birth through the Eyes of the Wisemen

Cooking Workshop
Christ Seekers (Magi) – Loaves and Fishes Cafe

Summary of Lesson Activities:
Children will make a scented gift – a clove decorated orange – which reinforces the star, the three gifts given Jesus, and the concept of gift giving.

Scripture Reference:

Matthew 2:1-2 and Matthew 2:9-11

Lesson Objectives

1. Children can name all three gifts given by the magi.
2. Children can describe frankincense and its uses
3. Children can describe myrrh and its uses

Leader Preparation:

• Read the scripture ahead of time.
• Gather the materials.

Materials List:

• Catalogues for opening discussion (optional)
• Pictures of frankincense and myrrh (Use any good search engine to find on the web)
• Bibles
  
  Pomander Ball Ornaments
• Oranges–purchase those w/ thick skin, preferably a golden color rather than bright orange (need one per child)
• Whole cloves – a pound will cover a dozen oranges.
• Mix of ground spices: cinnamon, ginger, allspice
• Ground orrisroot (if you can find it, it will help preserve the ball longer)
• Ribbon
• Straight pins
• Paper towels
• Plastic bags (to carry home balls)

Advance Preparation Requirements:

• Mix together the ground spices (and ground orrisroot if you could find it)

Presentation

Opening- Welcome and Lesson Introduction

Greet the children and introduce yourself and any helpers that you have.

Dig- Main Content and Reflection
Ask children what they would like for Christmas. If you would like, you can bring catalogues or ads for children to look through.

Ask children if they have made or bought any gifts for anyone this Christmas.

Ask the children why we give gifts at Christmas. (1) God gave us the gift of Jesus; (2) The magi brought gifts for Jesus.

What gifts did the Magi give Jesus? Read together Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11.

Ask the children what they know about gold, frankincense, and myrrh and explain what each of those things are using Bible Background notes above and the pictures of Gold and Frankincense provided. 

Main Lesson
The pomander balls are gifts that remind us of the gifts of the magi.

Let each child pick an orange.

The oranges remind us of GOLD

Stick the orange all over with cloves, being sure to cover it evenly. The more cloves are in, the longer the pomander ball will last.

The cloves we stick in remind us of MYRRH (which is thorny, and smells good, and was a preservative)

Allow the orange juice to drain some, then roll the ball in cinnamon and other spices.

The cinnamon we roll them in reminds us of FRANKINCENSE (which made the temple smell good, just as this will make our homes smell good.)

NOTE: The original recipe recommends allowing the orange to drain 24 hours before rolling in cinnamon mixture.

Tie the ball with a Ribbon so that it can be given to someone as a GIFT.

Life Application:
Gold reminded people that Jesus is really important. What sort of things might you give someone today to show the world that you think s/he is really important?

Frankincense reminded people of God’s presence. What reminds you of God’s presence?

Myrrh was very expensive and valuable. What is something you have that is expensive or valuable? Are you willing to give it up for Jesus?

Journaling:
Pick one of the Life Application questions for reflection.

To take home:
Completed balls
Cinnamon spice mixture, if they’ll be completing the project at home.

Closing:

Have the children assist with the cleanup and close with a prayer.

Adjustments for age levels and abilities
Little fingers may get tired of sticking in the cloves. You can “pre-drill” some holes for them with a bamboo skewer. It will be easier for them to push into premade holes.

If you have extra time…
Make an extra pomander ball

If time runs short…
Give extra cloves for completing the project at home.

Be creative
How else can you connect this project with the story of Jesus’ birth?

A lesson written by Lisa Martin from: Trinity UCC

Pottstown, PA

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

King's Cake

The "Kings' Cake" tradition in some French households is that the youngest person hides under the table and says who each piece of the cake will go to as it is cut (so the person cutting the cake, even if the "king" token becomes visible, does not choose the king). You could use the same technique to illustrate that the "unseen force" (God), not people, chose who would become king, although people (Magi) were still instrumental in identifying that king (just like the cake cutter is necessary to distribute the pieces).  The tradition continues with each king/queen choosing another person at the table to be their consort, which you could connect with Jesus choosing his disciples.