Gingerbread Activities for Little Learners
Oh, it’s the PERFECT time for gingerbread! All the spice and warmth and together time…there are few things cozier! So, since we’re loving all the baking and decorating going on this season, I’m incorporating some learning into our days with these engaging gingerbread activities that your kiddos will have so much fun with that they won’t even know they’re learning!
In this resource, there are activities to practice matching, tracing, coloring, fine motor skills, sequencing, counting, number & letter identification, and shapes. I’d recommend having some dry erase markers, play dough, mini-erasers, and other manipulatives for kiddos to play and learn with to complete these activities.
Scroll down to check out all the activities included in this resource, as well as tips and ideas for you to make each activity work perfectly for little ones of all ages!
COUNTING
The activities included for counting serve a couple different purposes. Practicing one-to-one correspondence and counting objects are obvious ones, but this activity is also great for practicing number recognition and number formation too! If your little one is JUST learning to count, you can count the cookies together. If they’re ready to identify numbers, they can match a picture card to the number on the mat and say the number’s name out loud. And if your little one is ready for even more, they can build their numbers by adding gingerbread cookies to the cookie tray to represent the number. You could also have learners write their numbers on the laminated sheet or match magnetic numbers to the page too. There are so many different ways to practice math basics with this one activity!
COMPREHENSION (SEQUENCING)
Having the skills to know the sequence that something happens in is an essential literacy (and life!) skill for little ones. You can practice these sequencing skills by asking your little ones what happened first and last in their day or their favorite book, what should come NEXT or FIRST when they’re playing with something, or even just practicing putting numbers or letters in the correct order. Though it may take some practice to understand the concept, you’ll be encouraging them to learn that things usually happen in a certain sequence.
There is 1 activity to practice sequencing: showing “How to Make Gingerbread Cookies” in the correct order. This activity includes 4 steps. Maybe your little one only knows what happens first or what happens last at first…and that’s great! Little steps are still steps. :) Whatever level your kids are ready for, practicing describing a sequence of events is a great way to boost comprehension skills and prepare them for more complex skills later on.
MATCHING
The matching activities included in this pack are perfect for practicing matching pictures that are the same and noticing things that are different. The matching activities included are simple ways to practice matching different kinds of gingerbread cookies. Little ones can practice describing the emotions of the cookies or the objects they’re holding to expand or practice vocabulary words. You can help those new words stick by connecting the words you’ve read in a book with the words they’re learning in their activity. Making connections is a great way to help learners anchor their learning and retain that new knowledge.
FINE MOTOR SKILLS (PLAYDOUGH, TRACING, DECORATING)
There are a bunch of fun ways to practice fine motor skills included in this resource. Manipulating playdough is really fun way to strengthen hand muscles and develop fine motor skills. It’s the perfect tool to use to blend together learning and playing too! There are 8 playdough mats inside, including a few that are perfect for retelling the story of The Gingerbread Man.
Tracing is a another great way for little ones to start learning how to control their hand movements. These fine motor skills take a lot of muscle control and practice, so using these skills in a variety of ways is a great way to help your little one develop these skills more quickly. There are pages included to practice tracing letters and pages to practice tracing a variety of lines. Your little one can use a dry erase marker to trace, cover the lines’ curves with a small manipulative like mini erasers, or trace them using crayons or markers in the black and white version. And they’re not ready for a crayon, marker, or manipulative, just encourage them to practice tracing using their fingers!
Decorating paper gingerbread cookies with stickers, small pieces of straws, mini-erasers, pom poms, or any other small manipulative is a fun way to practice pinching and grasping while having a super fun time! You can give your little one some tongs or tweezers to grab their manipulatives to decorate to add a little challenge to this simple, fun activity.
COMPREHENSION (RETELLING)
Did you know that understanding that a story has a beginning, middle, and end is a foundational literacy skill? Little ones should eventually know what those parts of a story are and be able to identify them too. So, retelling little one’s favorite stories is an amazing way to practice these skills! This resource includes a few activities for retelling the classic story of “The Gingerbread Man”. There are puppets and a cards and mat activity to practice retelling the story. The puppets are really fun for littles to act out the story and the cards and matching mat are great for guiding them through the story if they get stuck and can’t remember what comes next.
As you’re reading and talking about the story with your kiddos, I’d suggest throwing the words “beginning, middle, end” into your vocabulary while talking about the parts of the book to expose them to the idea that the book is split into different sections. Then, read it again and again, letting them act out the beginning, middle, and end with the puppets or show them with the cards.
SHAPES
The shapes activities included in this pack are great for practicing matching and naming and coloring shapes. Your little ones can practice naming and describing the shape gingerbread cookies to expand and practice their math vocabulary. You can help those new words stick by connecting the words you’ve read in a book with the words they’re learning in their activity. Can they build the shapes with manipulatives after matching them? Do they want to color or trace the shapes? Want to create them out of playdough or find a shapes video to sing along to? You can extend the learning from this activity in a VARIETY of fun ways!
LETTER RECOGNITION
The letter activities included in this pack are super hands-on and work super well for practicing matching and naming and coloring capital letters. Your little ones can practice matching the letter cards to the letter mats or squish a ball of playdough under the matching letter. They can also color the letter they found on a simple recording sheet. When they’re done with the activity, you can extend the learning by they creating the letter shapes with manipulatives or playdough, writing or tracing them on their mat, or singing along to a letters video or song. Immersion is a great way to soak up lots of information about a topic, so toss them into those letters any way you want to!
There’s the breakdown of the gingerbread activities for your little loves, y’all! I hope this deeper look into the activities included in the resource is helpful for you and you’re able to use these engaging activities with your little learners all season long. :) Please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email if you have any questions!
Happy learning and merry Christmas, y’all!
