Pre-K Gingerbread Theme Unit

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~ Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for learning about the Gingerbread Man ~

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Books

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Rhymes

Gingerbread Rhyme

Gingerbread, gingerbread, reach up high,
See if you can touch the sky.
Gingerbread, gingerbread, ready to go?
See if you can touch down low.
Gingerbread, gingerbread, oh-so sweet,
Take a bow; then have a seat.
Gingerbread, gingerbread, in a crowd,
Clap your hands very loud.
Gingerbread, gingerbread, quietly clap.
Now, fold your hands into your lap.
--from The Mailbox

Gingerbread Man Rhyme

I have two big raisin eyes,
(Point to eyes)
And a red hot candy nose,
(Point to nose)
I have yummy white frosting
From my head down to my toes!
(Point to head and toes)
I can run, run, run
Just as fast as I can.
(Run in place)
Can you guess who?
I'm the Gingerbread Man!
--from The Mailbox

Songs

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Gingerbread Activities

Gingerbread Play Dough People

[Fine Motor]
Add gingerbread cookie cutters of different sizes to the play dough area for children to cut gingerbread people out of play dough. Also add a cookie sheet so children can pretend to bake them.

Gingerbread Matching Cards

[Visual Discrimination]
Print out and cut apart two sets of the Gingerbread Matching Cards. Children practice visual disrimination skills to find the pairs of gingerbread men that are exactly the same.

Gingerbread Matching

Gingerbread Houses

[Art]
We use graham crackers, white icing, small candies, and a milk carton to make and decorate a gingerbread house. We use M&M's, gummy bears, peppermint disks, mini candy canes, gum drops, and Fruit Loops for the decorations. A few days before the activity, I rinse out the cartons and let them dry, then cover them with aluminum foil.

Gingerbread Kids

[Art]
Children cut out a gingerbread kid from sandpaper, add colored glue for the "frosting", and buttons, wiggle eyes, ribbon scraps, rickrack, and yarn.

Gingerbread Cookie Decorating

[Art]
Children use squeeze tubes of icing to decorate a gingerbread cookie. Red hots and M&M's can be used for the eyes and buttons. I usually use the Little Debbie gingerbread cookies.

"Gingerbread Baby" Characters

[Literacy]
After reading Jan Brett's book Gingerbread Baby, we talk about what "characters" are in a story. The second time we read the story, each child is given a character mask from the story. As we come to each character's part in the story, the child with that character's mask stands. After the story is read, we name each of the characters and talk about what they did in the story and what they said.

"Gingerbread Baby" Character Masks

Gingerbread Letter Hunt

[Literacy]
Print out as many copies of the Gingerbread Man as you will need. Write one letter on each card and hide the cards throughout the classroom. Children will go on a search to find the Gingerbread Man (each child should find only one). Bring everyone back to the circle time area and play a recording of the alphabet song (you will need to repeat the song a few times). Pause the music at different intervals, and ask the children which letter would come next in the song. The child holding that letter will sit in the middle of the circle. Begin the song again, and continue playing and pausing the music, giving different children a turn in the middle of the circle.

Gingerbread Man

Story Retelling

[Literacy]
Show the book, The Gingerbread Man, to the children and tell them to think about what happened in the story, and the people (characters) and places they saw in the story. Think about what each character said. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to draw something they remember from the story. Remind them that this should not be a picture of their cat or their friends, but only pictures of things from the book. After each child has illustrated the story, have them retell the story in their own words. Either record each child with a voice recorder or write their dictation on the page.

Gingerbread Cookie Graph

[Math]
Each child takes one bite of a gingerbread boy cookie. We place the cookies on small paper plates (with their name written on the plate), and graph the cookies on the graphing mat by the part of the gingerbread boy that was bit off (head, arm, leg). We compare most/least/same.

Gingerbread Stamping Game

[Math, Literacy]
I wrote numerals on a strip of paper. Children rolled a die, found the number, and stamped it with a gingerbread boy stamp. The gingerbread stamps are foam stamps that came from a craft store. The Gingerbread Stamping Game printable (below) can also be used for this game. Write numerals or letters on the gingerbread boys and have the children stamp the number or letter with a bingo stamper.

Gingerbread Bingo
10 Spaces

Gingerbread Bingo
8 Spaces

Gingerbread Ten Frame Counting

[Math]
Use colored masking tape or electrical tape to make a grid with ten spaces (5 on the top row, 5 on the bottom row) on a metal cookie sheet. (Cookie sheets are usually sold at the Dollar Tree.) Print and cut out the Gingerbread Cookies (below). Either print them on printable magnetic sheets, or print on card stock paper and attach a magnet to the back of each. This can be used at circle time, small group, or center time. Place any amount of the gingerbread cookies on the cookie sheet (one in each grid space), show children the cookie sheet, and have them hold up the same amount of fingers. For example, if you place 6 cookies on the cookie sheet, the children would show 6 fingers. Children can do this activity in the math center with a partner, one person placing cookies on the cookie sheet and the other counting and showing how many on their fingers.

Gingerbread Cookie Counting

Gingerbread Grid Game

[Math]
To play a grid game, children roll a game die, identify the numeral and count out that amount of manipulatives. Each manipulative is placed over one picture in the grid. Children play until the whole grid is full. Bingo chips or flat floral marbles can be used for the game pieces.

Gingerbread Grid Game
10 Spaces

Gingerbread Grid Game
20 Spaces

Gingerbread Man Color Sorting

[Math]
Print out and cut apart the Gingerbread Man Color Sorting Cards. Colored buttons or beads can be used for the manipulatives. Have children sort the buttons or beads by color onto the matching colored gingerbread man.

Gingerbread Man Color Sorting

Gingerbread Man Shape Sorting

[Math]
Print out and cut apart the Gingerbread Man Shape Sorting Cards. Colored shape buttons are used for the manipulatives. Have children sort the buttons by shape onto the gingerbread man mat with the corresponding shape.

Gingerbread Man Shape Sorting

Find the Gingerbread Baby

[Sensory Table]
Print out the Gingerbread Baby and Gingerbread Friends from Jan Brett's website, color, and cut them out. Place the Gingerbread Friends and only one Gingerbread Baby in the sensory table. Fill the sensory table with rice or sand, and add scoops, spoons, or small shovels. The children search through the rice or sand to find the Gingerbread Baby.

Gingerbread Friends Printables:

Gingerbread Baby @ JanBrett.com
Buckaroo Gingerbread Boy @ JanBrett.com
Gingerbread Girl @ JanBrett.com
More of Jan Brett's Gingerbread Friends Printables @ JanBrett.com: Click the link for a sheet of small size

Gingerbread House

[Dramatic Play]
Add a large cardboard box to the house center (a.k.a. dramatic play area), and let the children decorate it to look like a gingerbread house. Children can play in the gingerbread house, pretending to be the Gingerbread Baby and his friends.

Gingerbread House with Blocks

[Block Center]
Add construction paper and masking tape to the block center. Children can build a gingerbread house with blocks, using the construction paper to make candy and tape them onto their block house.

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