Books
I checked out several different versions of the gingerbread man story from the library, but we didn't have time to read them all. For our main whole group read-aloud, we read The Gingerbread Man by Eric Kimmel. I like this version because it is the simple, straightforward story without extra details or really wordy text. It is a great way to familiarize students with the story, so they have some background knowledge before moving onto other fun variations like The Gingerbread Girl or Gingerbread Friends.
Dramatic Play
This was probably the favorite activity, and it evolved from baking/kitchen play to decorating play as time went on. I just traced one of my gingerbread men cookie cutters on felt to make the cookie pieces.
My little guy was also interested in this activity.
Sensory/Fine Motor
We made gingerbread play dough, using this recipe and this hands-on process. Ours turned out a little lighter in color than the recipes I looked at, but it still smelled great.
Baking
The final, culminating activity was actually making our own gingerbread cookies. I looked around for a simple recipe, and finally settled on this one. Since our time is limited and we had experience making dough earlier with the play dough, I decided to mix the dough ahead of time and then let the kids help to cut the cookies.
We made predictions about what would happen to the cookies in the oven. Would the dough stay soft or get hard? Would they change in size? Would the color change? The dough was enough for several batches, and the kids would take a peek at the oven throughout center choices time to see how the cookies were doing. They were also quick to remind me that the oven timer went off and it was time to take out the pan. The cookies were cooled just in time for everyone to have a taste during snack.
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