The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett is the much-loved story of the gingerbread man retold with a delightful twist!  Somebody opened the oven door before the gingerbread man was finished baking and out jumped the Gingerbread Baby! 

Your students will love this delightful story.

How to Use it in Your Classroom

BEFORE READING: Making Predictions & Accessing Schema​

Most of your students have heard the traditional version of the Gingerbread Man.  Show the book cover and ask them to tell about any stories they have heard about the gingerbread man.

Use the included Venn diagram organizer to record their prior knowledge, and then use it to compare and contrast with Gingerbread Baby after you read.

DURING READING: Observing & Predicting

As you read the story, encourage your students to make predictions about what will happen next.  Jan Brett's illustrations are rich with hints about what may happen next in the side panels.  

Take a look at Matti in this illustration.  He is not out hunting for his Gingerbread Baby – but he is up to something. . . 

AFTER READING: Retelling & Extending Learning

This would also be a great time to complete the Venn diagram that you started, comparing and contrasting the Gingerbread Baby with the Gingerbread Man in the traditional tale.
 

This story provides a doorway into many fun and engaging gingerbread activities!  Your students will be delightfully engaged as they learn in cross-curricular areas.

Language Arts Activities:

Retelling using the Flap Book

After you have finished reading, engage students in the retelling process with the four-flap book, recalling the Characters, Setting, Problem, and Solution.

Writing:

I have included some fun writing paper if you would like your students to write about the sassy little Gingerbread Baby.

Making Words:

This is an engaging activity that you could use in a variety of ways:
  • literacy centers
  • partner activity
  • morning work
  • homework
  • whole-class activity

Reading to Self:

Notice the gingerbread baby on his shoulder.  🙂

Use the Gingerbread Baby, a favorite Christmas read aloud to teach many subjects! READING: Retelling the story, SPELLING: Word making with the word: Gingerbread, MATH: Gingerbread Measuring and Gingerbread Bump Grab these free printables to add a spark in your lesson plans! #gingerbreadbabyactivities

Math Activities

The Gingerbread Baby is a favorite Christmas read-aloud. Get these free pintables to spark learning in cross-curricular areas! Activities include: READING: Retelling the story, SPELLING: Word making with the word: Gingerbread, MATH: Gingerbread Measuring and Gingerbread Bump #gingerbreadbabyactivities

Gingerbread Measuring

After reading the story I tell my students that the Gingerbread Baby and his friends have hidden themselves around our classroom.  (I hid them in plain sight before reading the story.)  ‘We need to catch them if we can and measure them!'
 
These cards are also perfect for:
 
  • Task Cards in Math Centers
  • ‘Solve the Room'
  • ‘Solve the Room' with Partners
  • Scoot
This Gingerbread Man Measuring activity is in my TpT store.  
 
Just click on the image above to download it.

Gingerbread Bump

Another fun math activity your students may enjoy is ‘Gingerbread Bump'!  Kids will have fun with this game and be practicing the mental math strategy of ‘doubles‘ at the same time!

Gingerbread Math Games

The Gingerbread Bump game is in the ‘Gingerbread Baby' Book Companion.  (link below.)  It is also part of my Gingerbread Math Games; if you want to see the rest of these engaging games – click on the picture.

Brighten up your Christmas teaching with these additional resources.

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