Gingerbread Man Shape Game
One of my favourite themes for Christmas, although it is easy to use any time of the year, is Gingerbread and there are so many fantastic books to choose from. From the traditional Gingerbread Man story to modern versions. For this week’s Gingerbread Theme for The Virtual Book Club for Kids, we’re featuring the book Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett and have a DIY Math Game for toddlers and preschoolers to “Dress the Gingerbread Man” whilst focusing on basic shape recognition.
Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett
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Dress the Gingerbread Man DIY Shape Game
In this game, we are focusing the first 3 shapes – triangle, square and circle and have used these to “dress” the gingerbread man with eyes and buttons.
Materials needed for this DIY Gingerbread Man Math Game
Download of our blank Gingerbread Man printer for each player plus 1 version of the shape dice net
A collection of Triangle, Circle and Square buttons or wooden shapes. We used shapes from our Tap and Tack but you could use a collection of shape buttons
Printer – we have an HP Envy with Insta Ink and I have been really happy with the quality and cost of this printer
Cardstock to create the dice
Scissors or Craft Knife and cutting mat
Preparation
Download a copy of the Gingerbread Man Math Game and print out 1 gingerbread man per player plus a single copy of the shape dice.
Laminate the copies of the Gingerbread Man for each Player and then cut out the dice. Score along the edge of the tabs and between the side to make it easier to fold.
Place the double-sided sticky tape on each of the tabs and fold to make a cube.
Playing the Game
Decide what the winning point would be (you could place some dots to show the areas that need to be completed e.g. 2 eyes, 3 buttons, mouth, nose etc…) and the first person to “dress” the gingerbread man with their shapes would win.
Take it in turns to throw the dice.
When it stops – name the shape “Circle”, “Square” or “Triangle”. The player then picks up the corresponding shape and dresses the Gingerbread Man with it.
If you have multiple coloured shapes you could also add in naming the colour of the shape that they are dressing the Gingerbread Man with.
More Gingerbread Themed Activities for Toddler and Preschoolers
Each week for the Virtual Book Club for Kids the Co-ordinators and cohosts shape fun activities, crafts and recipes aimed at toddlers and preschoolers on the chosen theme and featured book. It’s easy to join us connecting and creating with books you can either sign up for our weekly book based activity newsletter (and get this DIY Dress the Gingerbread Man Shape Game FREE) and get the ideas straight to your inbox. Or you can come and join our Weekly Virtual Book Club for Kids Facebook Group with nearly 8000 other parents, carers and educators focusing on books each week.
Here are this week’s fun activities for toddlers and preschoolers on the week’s theme of Gingerbread.
Gingerbread House Glyph from Mama Smiles
Gingerbread Patterning from My Storytime Corner
Gingerbread Man Craft Exploring Colours from J Daniel 4’s Mom
Gingerbread Baby Scissor Skills from School Time Snippets
Foam Gingerbread Christmas Busy Bag from Views from the Step Stool
Kid-Friendly Gingerbread Recipe
Gingerbread Man Shape Game – You are Here!
Gingerbread Baby Salt Dough Pattern Making
Fingerprint Gingerbread Man Ornament from The Educators’ Spin On It
Gingerbread Man Number Hop from Toddler Approved
Giant Gingerbread Man People from Toddler Approved
Gingerbread Man Collage from Toddler Approved
Build a Gingerbread Boy Number Game from Toddler Approved
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