‘Tis the season for all things holly and jolly, and what isn’t more jolly that a happy little gingerbread theme?! I don’t know about you, but for me… gingerbread is to Christmas what pumpkin is to Fall. They just go hand-in-hand. Gingerbread coffee. Gingerbread candles. Gingerbread cookies. (You see where I’m going with this??)
So of COURSE I had to include a theme in our homeschool time with resources like our Gingerbread Preschool theme! This gingerbread set is a perfect way to help children combine important Math and Literacy practice with this festive time of year. Below you’ll find tons of activities and tips!
Table of Contents – CLICK to jump ahead!
Christmas Theme Sensory Bin
One of the easiest ways to add excitement and hands-on learning to your preschool week is with a themed sensory bin. So many of the activities in our Gingerbread Preschool pack incorporate a sensory bin, so it’s best to knock out the preparation early on! Our Christmas sensory bin is always a hit—it’s simple to put together and offers tons of playful learning opportunities! Here’s how I like to set ours up!
FIRST, gather your materials. I like to use a plastic storage bin with a lid so I can cover and store the bin once it’s prepared. Choose your filler, like the dry black beans we use in ours. Something about the black beans really makes all the Christmas colors in our gingerbread theme POP and gives children a very unique texture to experience. Once you’ve chosen your filler, fill your storage bin as much as you feel comfortable with (knowing each individual child can handle working with different amounts of materials).
NEXT, grab some extra Christmas themed items like plastic trees and ornaments, little gingerbread men, gumdrop puffy stickers, colorful pompoms, etc. These items make the perfect backdrop for the printable items in our preschool Christmas pack! Scatter them throughout your sensory bin filler and watch the theme really come to life!
FINALLY, choose a space that you feel comfortable using the sensory bin with your child. I tuck ours away in our homeschool room with the rest of our Preschool manipulatives, and keep our sensory bin blanket nearby for when it’s time to get to work. The rule with our bins – everything stays on the blanket! This makes clean up SO much easier.
READY, SET, PLAY!!! When your sensory bin is not being used for the printable activities in our Gingerbread Preschool theme, allow children to explore freely! Watch them scoop, pour, dig, and more! I love taking our bin our when I need a little extra quiet time for homeschooling an older child, or honestly if I just need an extra minute to sip my hot coffee!
Preschool Gingerbread Theme Overview
This Gingerbread Preschool theme is sure to give your little learners TONS of fun practice! Children will have 15 center-style activities to choose from – 5 Math, 5 Literacy and 5 Fine Motor centers. In addition, I’ve included book recommendations for 5 gingerbread theme picture books and links to their read aloud videos on YouTube!
To use these printables, you can follow the PRE-MADE lesson plans for a week full of fun! Each of the 5 pre-planned days your students will have 1 read aloud, 1 Math activity, 1 Literacy activity, and 1 Fine Motor activity to work on. This is a great pace for little learners! But if you’d like to spread the activities out or rearrange them according your own child’s needs, simply print our provided Build-Your-Own Plans page and make your own plans!
PS See how we use this theme in our Preschool scope and sequence by grabbing our FREE Preschool Curriculum Map below!
Math Activities
This set of printables has 5 fun Gingerbread Preschool theme activities for practicing early Math skills. Children will practice number formation, number identification, counting, colors, and shapes. Our Preschool activities always include the use of small manipulatives for added fine motor skills practice!
One of my favorite Math activities in this pack is the activity above. Does anyone else think all the things gumdrop when you’re building a gingerbread theme?! This gumdrop 10 Frame building activity is such a great way to help children connect numbers to their corresponding amounts. To use, children choose gingerbread cookie number cards and identify the numbers on them. Then they’ll use the provided gumdrop printables (or these fun puffy stickers that I found at Hobby Lobby!) to build the correct amount.
I love working with 10 Frame mats because you can do SO much with them in your math study! Of course the first way to use them is with activity described above. Another way I like to use them is by building an amount and guiding children in identifying how many more boxes would need to be filled to reach 10. This is a great introduction to “Friends of 10” in later grades where children learn all the ways to build 10. Another way I use this mat is introducing addition by asking children to add the amount on the top row to the bottom!
Literacy Activities
In addition to the Math centers, this set includes 5 early Gingerbread Preschool Literacy activities! Children will practice skills like letter identification, letter formation, beginning sounds, and handwriting practice with gingerbread vocabulary words!
I love materials the combine skills! These beginning sounds clip cards combine beginning sounds with color words and color identification. To use, children identify the missing beginning sound and clip the letter that makes that sound!
Fine Motor Activities
When working with little learners, strengthening fine motor skills is a must! Our 5 gingerbread theme fine motor activities will have your children working hard and having TONS of fun! They will practice matching using clothespins, mold using play dough, trace using manipulatives, building pictures, and so much more! These fine motor activities are one of the things that makes these weekly sets SO easy to differentiate – if your kiddos aren’t ready for the academic components this year, start with the fine motors and add more academics next year!
One of my favorite fine motor activities from our gingerbread Preschool set is this gingerbread cookie decorating mat! It’s THE perfect NO PREP sensory bin companion. Simply print, place alongside your Christmas sensory bin, and watch your littles have a ball decorating their own gingerbread cookie!
And… I lesson planned FOR YOU!
This set of activities (and all of the other 45+ sets in our FULL Preschool Curriculum) include a full week of print and go visual lesson plans! It shows you exactly which books and printables to use each day for a 5-day school week, making lesson planning an absolute breeze!
Want to build your own? Or maybe your kiddos are ready for some of the activities but not all of them? That’s great! Use the included Build Your Own lesson plans page! These thematic centers were designed with growing learners ages 2.5 to 5 years old in mind, so this lesson planning page allows you to choose which activities your child is ready for right now!
Ready to learn with your toddlers or Preschoolers ALL MONTH LONG?! You can save TONS when you grab this set of centers in our December Preschool Curriculum! The bundle includes 3 engaging December themes (like gingerbread, Christmas, and more!), complete with a week of lesson plans for each! You’ll also get 25 NO PREP Christmas theme fine motor skills worksheets and crafts, and 38 NO PREP Math and Literacy worksheets for extended practice!
Let’s hang out!
I hope this post helped you get a better look at our Gingerbread theme Preschool activities! Got questions? Let me know! I’d love to chat and get to know you better! You can find us below in some of our favorite places to hang out. Can’t wait to chat with you about your Preschooler’s learning journey!
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