1-2-3 Come Do Some More Gingerbread Activities With Me

I LOVE drawing gingerbread boys and girls.  Each one has their own personality.  I try to give them that cuteness factor with special eyes and grins.  Since the "craftivities" I post are pretty popular, I decided to revamp a few favorites.

Gingerbread Cookie Counting now has a variety of traceable number sequences.  Choose one for your kiddo's to trace and write.  I've included counting to 20, counting backwards from 10 to 0 or 20 to 0 + skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, or 10's. 

Children cut and collate their little booklet and staple the edge.  Glue the last page on the box on the gingerbread's belly and you're all set.  Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Cookie Counting packet.

Look closely at the picture and you'll see that the cheek portion of the gingerbread is a pocket!  Students paint 2 paper plates brown.  When they are dry, cut one in half and staple it bottom-up, to the "face" of the gingerbread man to make a pocket. 

Children decorate their pocket to look like a gingerbread man's face, and fill with a variety of little accordion-folded books.  I up-dated this packet so that all of the booklets are now traceable. There are strips for counting to 36, skip counting by 2's, 3's 5's, and 10's.

I've also included templates for the hexagon, pentagon and octagon shapes.  Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Pocket Pal.

Every month I put up a new paper chain that contained a link for each day in the month.  I used it to review a variety of standards.  We'd count the links and subtract one by tearing it off; we'd identify the colors in English and Spanish and state what the pattern was. 

Children would count how many were left in English and then up to 10 in Spanish.  Students told me that the number of links was greater yesterday than they were today etc. 

As a great fine motor skill, I'd sometimes have my Y5's make their own paper chains.  They could take it home, hang it up and countdown the days to whatever special occassion was happening that month.  I designed the gingerbread paper chain with all of this in mind.  Click on the link to view/download it.

Another fun way to get some number recognition and counting sequences in, is to have students put together gingerbread 10-piece number-strip puzzles. There's one that counts to 10, another that counts backwards and finally one that counts by 10's. 

Print, laminate and trim and have students place the pieces on the numbered grid, or run off copies for everyone; they trim and then glue back together.  Click on the link to view/download the gingerbread puzzles. 

I made a gingerbread dice game with a 6-piece puzzle as well.  Students pick a partner and take turns rolling the dice.  Whatever number they roll, they place that numbered puzzle piece on the grid.  The first one to complete their puzzle is the winner.

I've also included a black and white set if you want to run off copies for all of your kiddo's.  They color and trim. 

They can either glue their rolled pieces to the grid, or place them on so that they can take their gingerbread puzzle home and play again. Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread 6-Piece Puzzle packet.

I hope your students will also enjoy the Gingerbread Number Fun packet. This 33-page packet is chock full of all sorts of activities to help students recognize numbers; add and subtract; make groups and sets; show greater and less than; and count from any number.

I've included gingerbread number cards from 1 to 126, with a blank template for you to program with more.  There's also trace and write the number worksheets, "what's missing?" worksheets + skip counting activities by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's.  Skip counting bookmarks to use as rewards, are also included. Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Number Fun packet.

Finally, since the Clothespin Number Matching games have been so popular,  I decided to make some winter ones as well, and started with gingerbread.  Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Clothespin Number Matching Game.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  If you'd like to take a look at the awesome educational things I spend way too much time pinning, click on the heart to the right of the article. 

I design and blog daily so I hope you can stop by tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES.

"Come sit at my table and share with me, warm gingerbread cookies and cinnamon tea." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Gingerbread Activities With Me!

Gingerbread activites are like Pinterest; does anyone ever get enough?   My daughter frequently asked me why I "reinvented the wheel" each month, spending hours creating new things, when I already had "a ton." 

The easy answer was, I simply LOVE designing stuff!  I'm always looking to improve, as well as keep things current, fresh and interesting.  There must be quite a few teachers who feel the same, as I continue to get requests for "more-more-more" gingerbread goodies. 

I hope you enjoy the newest FREEBIES on the blog today, plus a few old favorites that you might not have been aware of. 

"I need a glyph!" is probably one of the most frequent e-mail requests that I get.  The gingerbread glyph is very popular.  Glyphs are a great way to get to know your kiddos, at the same time whole group assessing listening & following directions. 

Because each one is so different, they make a cute December bulletin board. If you'd like to see my entire glyph collection, click on the link to zip on over to the Glyph Section of my site. 

Many teachers are also in search of worksheets that help reinforce and review a variety of standards, so that they can use them for practice, whole-group assessing, games, something for "early finishers" to transition to, or homework.

With that in mind, I designed a variety of simple, quick and fun gingerbread-themed worksheets that I think your kiddo's will enjoy. 

Plug a few into your Daily 5 activities or sub folder.   Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Worksheet Packet.

One of the most popular stories read in December is The Gingerbread Man.  I enjoy collecting various versions, with different endings.  Introducing story elements by reading a favorite book, is a simple way to grab students' attention.  

Give them a list of things you want them to listen for,  then when they realize where the setting is, they shoot up their hand.  When a new character is introduced, they do it again etc.  This is fun for children and keeps them focussed.

You'll be able to cover quite a few Common Core Standards with The Gingerbread Literacy Packet.  I've included picture cards, a graphic organizer, and a story slider "craftivity"  to help students sequence and retell the story.

The slider is my personal favorite.  I updated this old favorite. Adding "frosting" with puffy paint gives it an "awwww-dorable" finishing touch.

There are also pocket cards, 40 traceable word cards as well as a Venn diagram activity.  Click on the link to view/download The Gingerbread Literacy Packet.

For more Gingerbread Venn diagrams, click on the link for some fun ways to compare and contrast a variety of things. 

The Gingerbread Sentence pack is also great for reviewing the story, as well as practicing end punctuation and capitalization. 

You can use the pocket chart cards for a whole group activity and correct the sentences together, or have students do the individual worksheet.

Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Punctuation Packet.

Finally, K-teacher Jill, from Georgia, asked if I had time to make some gingerbread activities that involved colors and color words.  I hope you like them too.  Click on the link to view download the Gingerbread Colors Packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away. It's my hope that my efforts bring a smile to your students and more quiet time for you.  I enjoy hearing from my visitors; you can leave a comment below or e-mail me at: diane@teachwithme.com

"Had I but a penny in the world, thou shouldst have it for gingerbread." -William Shakespeare.