Gingerbread Theme

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

Find more Gingerbread Activities for Pre-K

Books

Click here for a complete list of Gingerbread Books

Gingerbread Fine Motor Skills Activities

Gingerbread Play Dough People

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 Art Activities

Gingerbread Houses

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

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

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 Literacy Activities

“Gingerbread Baby” Characters

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

Story Retelling

This is an activity that goes with any theme. Choose a book that goes with the theme, and have the children retell the story. With this theme, of course, the Gingerbread Boy is a perfect one to retell.
Read the blog post here for details: story retelling

Gingerbread Bingo Stamping Game

Read about and print the Gingerbread Bingo Games here.

Gingerbread Roll & Write Game

Print and find directions here: Roll & Write Games

Gingerbread Math Activities

Gingerbread Ten Frame Counting

To prepare a magnetic ten frame board, 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.) Download, print and cut out the Gingerbread Cookies (link below). Either print them on printable magnetic sheets, or print on card stock paper and attach a magnet to the back of each. This activity 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.

Download: Gingerbread Cookies

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 Grid Games

Read about and print here: Grid Games

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.

Songs

Find more Gingerbread Activities for Pre-K.

In My Shop

$TPT Gingerbread Math Pack from PreKinders.com$