Gingerbread

I haven't posted in a long time it seems. With all the snow and the fast approaching holiday season our household has been pretty busy. We have been working on Gingerbread stories and activities. First we read the story Gingerbread baby, by Jan Brett, which is a version of the Gingerbread boy/man. She is one of my favorite children's lit authors. There is an exhibit featuring her at the Oshkosh museum that I get to see with M's class in 2 weeks. I can't wait. We worked on basics with the story. I also had prepared gingerbread fun dough for them to play with. They loved it and spent about 30 minutes playing with it. A bonus for those who love the smell of cinnamon is that even after washing their hands the kids still smell like cinnamon.

Mix 1 c. cinnamon, 1 tsp. ginger, 1 c. applesauce, 1/4 cup school glue.

Another day we read the story The Gingerbread Doll, by Susan Tews. It is a story about a little girl who lived in Wisconsin during the great depression. I thought it was a good story and the kids listened to it. Good lesson about being grateful and loving to for what you have, if presented in that fashion.
I am also going to post things that I intend to do with Gingerbread theme, because I just don't have time to post every day, but think they are fun ideas. I intend to read the following books this week Gingerbread Boy, by Paul Galdone, Gingerbread Friends, by Jan Brett, Maisy Makes Gingerbread, Who's in My Gingerbread House, and The Gingerbreadman, by Jim Aylesworth. There is a poem I am going to read.

Stir a bowl of gingerbread smooth and spicy brown
rollit with a rolling pin
up and up and down
with a cookie cutter
make some little men
put them in the oven
till half past ten

I am going to have the kids decorate a gingerbread man cookie and eat it for snack. I am going to attempt a gingerbread house with grahm crackers, works better for small childrenthen makign real gingerbread houses. You can also use a milk carton and wrap it with brown paper, but I don't have any small milk cartons:0) Sand paper is a great paper to cut gingerbread men out of to decorate, you could just use brown paper. To get older kids more activily involved you could have them make the batch of cookies and/or the gingerbread dough, with five kids and limited time I am not able to, but wish I could.
To add to any of the lessons you could have the kids talk about the similarities and the differences in the different versions of the Gingerbread man. Even young children will be able to do this, especially if you read them in the same sitting. These stories also lend them selves to sequencing. See if your child can remember who the Gingerbread person came across first second, third, etc.