Preschool Corner ~ The Gingerbread Baby
This was a spur-of-the-moment unit that I put together last week and I had much more that I wanted to do…but time and Mommy feeling still a little under the weather ~ it didn’t all happen.
Many days Kaleb didn’t really want to do ‘school’, so he and I had a little deal going. If he finished four activites {including Advent devotions with me}, then he could play the holiday version of Angry Birds on my itouch for 10 minutes. Worked like a charm!
The Gingerbread Baby Unit
I’ll break up the things that we did by topic/subject. We read the book {over and over again} every day and did a few activities from the lapbook each day and also did 3-5 activities from our unit study.
Here’s a peek at the inside of our lapbook:
Language/Spelling/Pre-Reading
- Vocabulary {words from the book}:
- Uppercase/lowercase ABC matching {lapbook piece}
- Tell what happened in the story and favorite part of the story {lapbook piece ~ front of lapbook}
- Beginning sounds worksheets {lapbook piece}
doesn’t he look THRILLED to have his picture taken??
Math
- Gingerbread Baby game ~ identifying numbers and moving correct number of spaces {lapbook piece}
- Patterning ~ we created different patterns using the gingerbread boy, girl and fox {lapbook piece}
- Size sequencing ~ we sequenced gingerbread babies from large to small and small to large {lapbook piece}
- Identifying numbers ~ we rolled a die and counted to build our gingerbread man puzzle {lapbook piece}
Science
- Animals ~ We printed off word card pictures of all the animals in the story and put them on a jump ring so we can add more animals from other stories that we read. We also sequenced the animals by the order we saw them in the book.
- Weather ~ we talked about the weather in the story {snowy and cold}, there was ice in the water that the gingerbread baby jumped onto
- Why didn’t the gingerbread boy jump in the water? Got this lovely idea from Cindy from Along the Way! We pulled out a tub of water and tried dunking him in the water to see what would happen {he fell apart}. We also tried a few different things: candy, pretzels, cereal, and more to see what would happen to them. The candy kept disappearing every time I turned around…not because it melted, but because a certain 4 year old kept pulling it out of the water and eating it {grins}.
Crafts
- Gingerbread baby craft using foam cut-outs that we picked up at the Dollar Tree
Fine & Gross Motor
- Write name ~ actually traced it to put on the front of our lapbook {lapbook piece}
- Trace the path that the gingerbread baby runs from the fox {lapbook piece}
- Practice writing the letter G {writing sheet in Preschool Pack}
- Trace color names {lapbook piece}
Click on the button below to download
the full Gingerbread Baby Preschool Pack.
Other things we wanted to do, but didn’t have time for {based on the book Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett}:
- Actually make gingerbread cookies and a gingerbread house!! I caved and bought cookies from the grocery store because we didn’t have time.
- Make masks to go along with the story from Jan Brett’s site
Stories & Books We Used
Other Great Gingerbread Links:
- Cindy @ Along the Way ~ Her gingerbread unit along with a fun printable and great ideas
- Homeschool Share ~ Gingerbread Baby unit for older kids
- Jan Brett ~ coloring pages
- Jan Brett ~ board game
- Musings of Me ~ gingerbread printables
More Preschool Links:

Ready to Link Up?
Labels: Preschool Corner





12 Comments:
I LOVE all the other activities you did with the book too.....especially the science ones (I am SO bad at incorporating science!).........the look on Kalebs face is CLASSIC! - I think Channing and Kaleb would get along well :-) Thanks so much for linking to my printables.
Michelle
By
Michelle, At
December 10, 2010 5:54 AM
I love your science experiment. JDaniel would eat the candy too. The gingerbread man is sooo cute.
By
JDaniel4's Mom, At
December 10, 2010 6:37 AM
I have Gingerbread Man Tracers at http://itsybitsylearners.com/christmas-themes.html
Hope these can be of help to someone!
By
Itsy Bitsy Learners, At
December 10, 2010 8:10 AM
Will you please come teach my kids? REALLY?!!
By
Layton Family Joy, At
December 10, 2010 9:23 AM
What a great, comprehensive lesson! I love it!
By
Julie, At
December 10, 2010 9:45 AM
We have never read Gingerbread Baby, but it sounds like something we should definitely do - so many great activities to go along with it. Thanks for sharing! I hope you continue to feel better - it's hard this time of year when you are not feeling 100%! You amaze me as always, even being under the weather. :)
By
Nicole {tired, need sleep}, At
December 10, 2010 10:13 AM
You know I'm going to have to do gingerbread again just so I can do this lapbook ~ so cute! You are AMAZING!
By
Cindy, At
December 10, 2010 3:00 PM
Glad to find your site/blog.
Have a wonderful afternoon.
By
Amy, At
December 10, 2010 4:18 PM
love them all! I love that Kaleb kept stealing the candy out of the water! I keep meaning to ask.. did you pass your stone?
By
Lindsay, At
December 10, 2010 5:21 PM
We decorate a paper gingerbread man too. I did a Itty Bitty Curriculum unit on it last year with Bear. I'm sorry you haven't been feeling well. I love Angry Birds too. My husband has it on his android phone and we both love to play it.
By
The girl who painted trees, At
December 10, 2010 10:23 PM
I'm very familiar with that look he gave you. I get it too.
Have you ever read the Jasper Fforde books? He used the Gingerbread Man as a character and the whole water thing is a key element.
By
Ticia, At
December 11, 2010 9:28 AM
I'm very familiar with that look he gave you. I get it too.
Have you ever read the Jasper Fforde books? He used the Gingerbread Man as a character and the whole water thing is a key element.
By
Ticia, At
December 15, 2010 12:52 PM
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