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Home » Reading Ideas » Alphabet Activities » The Gingerbread Baby- Virtual Book Club

The Gingerbread Baby- Virtual Book Club

December 17, 2012 • 12 Comments

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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.

Thanks for reading!  I would love for you to subscribe to our RSS Feed, like us on Facebook or follow us on Pinterest.

Please see the linky directory at the bottom of the page to see where this post has been linked.

 

 

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12 Comments Filed Under: All categories, Alphabet Activities Tagged With: activities for The Gingerbread Baby, gingerbread playdough, Jan Brett, literacy ideas for The Gingerbread Baby, The Gingerbread Baby

About Jodie Rodriguez

Jodie Rodriguez is a mom of two young boys and an early childhood/elementary educator with over 20 years of experience. Jodie's passion is helping parents, teachers, librarians and anyone else interested in nurturing and reaching ALL of our youngest growing readers.

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  1. Kim @ The Educators' Spin On It says

    December 30, 2012 at 8:28 am

    Thank you so much for joining the Virtual Book Club again! These are all great activities for literacy with the Gingerbread Man. Shared them on the Virtual Book Club facebook page and Pinterest Page and in our 50+ Gingerbread Activities! http://theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/2012/12/50-gingerbread-activities-for-kids.html

    Reply
  2. Kendall says

    December 18, 2012 at 9:00 pm

    Love these ideas! Thanks for sharing them.

    Reply
  3. Malia {Playdough to Plato} says

    December 18, 2012 at 8:48 am

    Your gingerbread matching game is so cute! Sharing your link on Playdough to Plato’s Facebook page this morning. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Jodie says

      December 18, 2012 at 10:27 am

      Thank you Malia!

      Reply
  4. Carolyn Wilhelm says

    December 17, 2012 at 9:40 pm

    Nice! I like the outside learning!

    Reply
    • Jodie says

      December 18, 2012 at 10:28 am

      Thanks, I’m always looking for ways to stay warm while getting some fresh air in the winter.

      Reply
  5. paula shaw says

    December 17, 2012 at 7:30 pm

    for years now I’ve sent my class on a gingerbread manhunt. there are letters with clues hidden all over the school which lead us on a wild goose chase. when we return to class, empty handed, there are gingerbread men waiting on our tables for us to enjoy. there are tons of fractured fairytale versions of this book that are fun to read and compare like “Stop that Pickle” , “The Gingerbread Cowboy”, “The Musubi Man” and more.

    Reply
    • Jodie says

      December 18, 2012 at 10:28 am

      Oh, I’ll have to look for those fractured fairy tales. They sound like so much fun. Thanks for the ideas.

      Reply
  6. Jackie Higgins says

    December 17, 2012 at 7:03 am

    Looks like Gingerbread Baby is the book club winner this month! 😉 We did it too. I have to try that gingerbread playdough!!

    Reply
    • Jodie says

      December 18, 2012 at 10:29 am

      It sure does seem like that Gingerbread Baby is a popular Virtual Book Club selection this time! There are so many ideas that have been shared. We’ll be busy for awhile.

      Reply
  7. Eddie - The Usual Mayhem says

    December 17, 2012 at 6:52 am

    I love that matching activity! Maybe we’ll try that out this week while we still have the book. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Jodie says

      December 18, 2012 at 10:30 am

      I’m glad you like the idea. Have fun!

      Reply

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