The holiday season is the perfect time to bring thematic activities into your classroom, and what better topic than the fun of gingerbread?! Check out these gingerbread man activities for the classroom!
I love using special mini-units to get my students excited and energized about learning and this is a personal favorite! There are SO many options for fun activities, and unlike Christmas celebrations, there are no religious issues to worry about.
Gingerbread Books
All children love to listen to stories, and gingerbread stories are some of the best around this time of the year! There are dozens of possibilities, from traditional Gingerbread Man stories to “fractured” twists on these stories and completely unique versions. Here are some of my personal favorites:
- The Gingerbread Man – by Karen Schmidt
- The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School – by Laura Murray
- The Gingerbread Girl – by Lisa Campbell Ernst
- Gingerbread Baby – by Jan Brett
- Gingerbread Friends – by Jan Brett
Check out the entire list on Amazon here!!
Baking and Decorating
If you’re adventurous, baking your own gingerbread might be one of the BEST gingerbread man activities your students could experience! Since the dough needs to be chilled for several hours before cutting and baking, you will need to either prepare your goodies over several class periods or pre-mix and chill the dough and have students help with the rolling, cutting, and baking.
Of course, you can also purchase a ready-to-go gingerbread kit and get right to the fun part—decorating! There are so many to choose from!
Writing and Art Idea
I love to give my students the opportunity to put themselves in the Gingerbread Man’s shoes (so to speak) in my “You’ll Never Catch Me” Persuasive Writing and Art package.
After reading some of the Gingerbread Boy stories I’ve already shared with you, we spend some time on story comparison and pre-writing activities before beginning a writing project that puts the students in the role of Gingerbread Boy or Girl. They absolutely love creating outrageous letters to their would-be captors and also have the opportunity to decorate a character of their own.
Take a peek at some of our final Gingerbread Man activities:
You can click the image below to grab this resource or get more information about it. It will take you to my TPT store.
If you use any of these Gingerbread Man activities with your students or you try something different, leave me a comment below or email me to let me know which are your favorites! I’d love to add them to my post!
You might also be interested in the seasonal ideas I’ve shared in this blog post:
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