Run, Run, As Fast As You Can... (Includes a FREEBIE)

You Can't Have Too Much Fun With The Gingerbread Man!

From tracing numerals with colored glue...

to re-telling the story of the Gingerbread Man... 

There is just soooooo much FUN you can have learning with the Gingerbread Man!

We started by making a book:

Click on the image.

The students illustrated 4 major events from the story as I read the rhyming text to them:

Students traded the dotted font and illustrated the scene.

On the next page, they traced the giant numerals with colored glue.  Just add food coloring to bottles of white glue and shake!  You will want to use glue bottles that are not full so you have room to shake the glue around.

This is what a glue tracing page looks like.

Tracing the numbers slowly with colored glue really helps them to understand the formation
of the numeral.  When the glue dries, it creates a raised font which is tactile and colorful.

You might like:  

The Gingerbread Man Number Formation Book:

Or the Gingerbread Man Book of Settings Class Book Cover:  IT'S FREE!

Your students create a setting on the computer and glue a paper gingerbread man to their scene to create a class book.

We followed up by making character puppets and a setting envelope:

We colored and cut out the main characters and glued them to popsicle sticks.

Students re-telling the Gingerbread Man story with their setting envelopes.

Then, we made a setting envelope by drawing the inside of the house and the oven on the front of the construction paper envelope and the river on the back of the envelope.  The setting envelope was the perfect place to store our characters.  You can see the blue setting envelope in the photo below.

Developing oral language as we "turn and talk" asking questions about the story.

And Check Out This Cute Descriptive Song About The Gingerbread Man:

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This is a cute descriptive song about the gingerbread man by my friend, Dan Colquhoun.  He lives in Australia and writes the cutest songs for kids.  This one is a great one to use when you are preparing for descriptive writing. You can hear his song and watch the animated gingerbread man by clicking HERE.

We also made gingerbread ornaments out of clay:

We cut them out with a cookie cutter and the children decorated them by using the tip of a pencil to create a face, buttons, and icing lines.  If you don't have a kiln at your school, consider using air-drying clay.

After we glazed them with clear glaze, we added pretend rhinestone sticky-back eyes and a ribbon.

We wrapped them up in a laced envelope and sent them home as gifts for our families.

Grab This Gingerbread Man Play:

Check out this cute Gingerbread Man play from my friend, Heidi, from Heidi's Songs.  It's a fabulous Gingerbread Man play! You can get more info by clicking HERE.

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Gingerbread Cookie Graph:

I give each child a tiny gingerbread cookie (Trader Joe's has great ones) and we graph which part they ate first; the head, arm, or leg.  

Last, we added a gingerbread costume to our playhouse:

I also used this gingerbread cut-out to take their pictures.  I also have a snowman cut-out, reindeer antlers & a red nose, and an elf hat complete with pointy ears.  I asks the students if they would rather be a gingerbread man, a snowman, a reindeer, or an elf and then I take their picture dressed up as their favorite character to post on our class graph.

      

You can grab the graph sign and icons HERE:

Click the image.

I hope you like these FUN gingerbread ideas.  Let me know about the ones you do with your class.