Are you looking for gingerbread man activities for preschool students? You are in the right place! The gingerbread man is my favorite folk tale and always a favorite with little ones! This post will give you tons of ideas to go with any version of The Gingerbread Man!
Do you love creating class books with your students? Class books are one of my favorite tools for writing workshop time. They really help preschool and Kindergarten students get excited about learning to read and write. I’ve put together a set of my favorite printable class books totally free for you! These class books can be used throughout the school year and focus on skills like letter and number recognition, sight words, environmental print, and more! I know you’ll love writing and creating these books with your students!
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I have to admit. I did not know how many different versions of The Gingerbread Man there were until I became a teacher! The gingerbread man is a great one to incorporate into your teaching during the month of December or really anytime throughout the school year.
Gingerbread Man Books
One of the best gingerbread man activities for preschool is simply reading gingerbread man books! These are a few of my favorite stories featuring the gingerbread man! The Gingerbread Girl: This is a really cute story that stars, The Gingerbread Girl instead! It
The Gingerbread Cowboy
The Gingerbread Cowboy: This is one of my favorites and I’ve also enjoyed it with my students while learning about Texas too! It’s a fun one to introduce some different vocabulary with your students as well like coyote and cattle.
How to Catch a Gingerbread Man
How to Catch a Gingerbread Man: This is a new book and the illustrations in it are really neat! The Gingerbread man is loose in the book store so the story also features some familiar characters from other nursery rhymes!
Tough Cookie
Tough Cookie: This book is so much fun to read! The fox catches the cookie and realizes he isn’t as good to eat as he thought. It brings up some fun discussions on friendship!
Gingerbread Man Loose in the School
Gingerbread Man Loose in the School: If you are looking for a gingerbread man book that has nothing to do with Christmas. This is your book! It’s a great read if you do gingerbread activities at the beginning of the school year to help students learn their way around the school!
Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas
Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas: I absolutely love this book and it’s such a fun read at Christmas time! The author is a former teacher and you can definitely tell that in her writing!
Gingerbread Baby
Gingerbread Baby: I remember this story from being a kid! Jan Brett books are so neat and the intricate illustrations are always fun for younger readers and additional discussion.
Gingerbread Friends
Gingerbread Friends: This is another Jan Brett book with her classic illustrations! It’s another good one for discussing friendship!
Gingerbread Man Writing
What’s more fun than gingerbread man writing? Writing activities that encourage creativity are my favorite.
I love when kids can be silly and creative when they practice writing instead of focusing on being “right.” The storyline in most of the gingerbread stories is the same: the gingerbread character is trying to get away and not be eaten!
Students will love helping the gingerbread man get away by suggesting something else for the characters in the story to eat instead. A few different writing versions are included making this activity appropriate for preschool and above! The craft is super simple and easy to prep too!
You’ll love seeing the creative ideas your students have as they complete this Gingerbread Man writing and craft!
Gingerbread Man Shape Tracing
This is the perfect math activity for preschool students! Little ones will love finding each gingerbread man shape and tracing it on the response sheet.
You can read more about this activity in this post, Interactive Tracing Shapes Worksheets for Preschool.
Center Activities
Ten Frame Matching
These fun activities are perfect for preschool centers! For this activity students will match the number to the correct ten frame. This is a great way to practice number recognition and counting.
Gumdrop Alphabet
This center is to help preschool students recognize uppercase and lowercase letters. Students will find each card and color the coordinating letter on their recording sheet.
Color Matching
Students will read each color word and match the gingerbread house accessories.
Gingerbread Worksheets
These gingerbread themed worksheets will help review academic concepts and fine motor skills.
Gingerbread Man Prepositions
The gingerbread man is also great for practicing positional word vocabulary and prepositions! Simply give each child a gingerbread man shape (These foam ones are great!) or you can make your own.
Then have students hide their gingerbread man and tell a friend where to find it! You can also incorporate technology into this activity too by having students take pictures of their gingerbread man in different places around the room. These pictures can be used for interactive writing or even turned into a class book!
Gingerbread Man Crafts
Gingerbread Man Craft Ornament
A coworker shared this easy gingerbread ornament recipe with me a few years ago and it’s a keeper! They smell amazing and the smell lasts for years! I have one from at least 7 years ago and it still smells so yummy! Here is how to make it:
1. Mix an equal part of cinnamon and applesauce. Maybe start with a cup or so of each.
2. Squeeze in some Elmer’s glue until you get a dough consistency.
3. Roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to make ornament shapes. You’ll need this one of course! Don’t forget to shape a hole for the string to turn it into an ornament!
4. These take a very long time to dry! I usually let them air dry over a weekend and flip them over to help dry both sides. I bet they could go in the oven on low too!
5. After the gingerbread man ornaments are dry, they can be decorated with puffy paints, but I think they look nice just simple! Add some holiday string and send them home with your students to be hung on a tree or anywhere! Families will enjoy the smell of gingerbread for years!
Lunch Bag Gingerbread House Craft
The idea of making a gingerbread house with your class always sounds fun, but it is A LOT of work! This lunch bag gingerbread house craft is a great alternative and just as fun.
Just give each student a brown lunch bag and stand it upright. Next, fold and staple the top of the bag. Then your students will color, cut out, and glue decorations for the gingerbread house including a roof, windows, door, and other candies and decorations.
This activity is included in my December Activities for Toddlers.
Gingerbread Man Class Book
I absolutely love creating class books with my students! Here is a class book you can create with your students featuring The Gingerbread Man! Each student will contribute a page, then you put them together to create a whole book that can be enjoyed by the class all year long! Book pages could also be sent home with your students and completed with your families for a preschool family project and then put together as a class book or displayed!
This Gingerbread Man class book is included inside of my Christmas Class Book set in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
I also love adding student pictures to class books. This really helps students to not only recognize their own name but the names of their classmates too! If you are looking for a template to make this easy to do all year check out, Editable Class Book Author Picture Template or you can read more about using class books in your classroom in this post, How to Make Meaningful Class Books for Preschoolers.
More Preschool Learning Activities:
Environmental Print in the Preschool Classroom
Getting Started with Writing Workshop in Preschool
How to Make Meaningful Class Books for Preschoolers
Happy holidays! I hope these gingerbread man activities for preschool inspire you this holiday season!