The Gingerbread Baby- Virtual Book Club

It’s time again for the Virtual Book Club hosted by Toddler Approved, Mommy and Me Book Club and The Educator’s Spin On It.  Each month a different author is featured.  Everyone participating then selects a book by the chosen author and creates an activity to accompany the book.  The featured author for December is Jan Brett.

Brett has so many wonderful books many of which are perfect for the winter season.  I decided on one of my favorites, The Gingerbread Baby.  In this twist of the classic, The Gingerbread Man, a little gingerbread baby escapes from the oven and leads the family on a chase through the town.  Little Matti stays at home during the chase and constructs a gingerbread house.  Readers will discover under the lift the flap on the last page that the baby makes it’s way back to the house.

Here are three fun literacy activities to do after enjoying this beautifully illustrated book.

1.  Gingerbread Matching Run

Are you looking to get a little fresh air, but need an activity to do to stay warm?  Then, this is the activity to fit the bill.

On the driveway or sidewalk, draw 26 gingerbread houses with sidewalk chalk.  Label each house with an uppercase letter.

Next, cut 26 gingerbread people out of brown foam sheets and write a lowercase letter on each gingerbread person.  Scatter the gingerbread people around the yard.

Your gingerbread run is now ready to begin.  Have the kids run to the yard, select a gingerbread person, and return it to it’s matching gingerbread house.  Then, repeat untill all gingerbread people are back in their houses.  Now, that’s a way to get some fresh air, stay warm and build some literacy skills at the same time!

Variations:  Match uppercase letters with uppercase letters or lowercase letters with lowercase letters. 

                        Match rhyming words or sight words.

2.  Puppet Retelling

Jan Brett has a wonderful website with lots of downloadable activities.  You can print out colored masks of the characters from The Gingerbread Baby and then act out a retelling of the story.  I laminated my masks for durability.

3.  Gingerbread Playdough Letters

I made a batch of gingerbread playdough last week.  The recipe from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle is great.  Roll the dough into different rope lengths and you can create every letter of the alphabet.

I hope you are inspired try at one, two or all three of the ideas after reading The Gingerbread Baby!

Don’t forget to check out other books and activities centered around Jan Brett’s work at one of the Virtual Book Clubs hosting sites.  At each of the hosting sites you will find others who have linked up their ideas.

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