25+ Ideas To Create A Fun Gingerbread Theme

This fabulous collection of gingerbread themed activities is wonderful for engaging preschoolers in fun, hands-on learning!  If you love hands-on learning as much as I do, you need to head over to Life Over Cs and check out all of our amazing winter themed hands-on learning activities for preschoolers! 

From crafting to counting, these gingerbread-themed ideas are perfect for little hands.  They encourage creativity, fine motor skill strengthening, social skills, and so much more!  Speaking of social skills, if you are working on social-emotional learning with your kids (a perfect skill to work on around the holidays!), you’ll love our list of 10+ Fun Social Emotional Activities for Preschoolers.

Why Should I Use Gingerbread Themed Activities?

Using gingerbread themed activities with kids has so many benefits!  Here are just a few of the many benefits:

Reasons to Use Gingerbread Themed Activities:

Using gingerbread themed activities with kids has so many benefits!  Here are just a few of the many benefits:

Creativity: This list of gingerbread themed activities is full of projects and games that will allow your child’s creativity to shine!  I love seeing my kids express their creativity and put their own special touch on projects, and I just know you will love it too.  Expressing their creative side is great for kids’ self-confidence, communication skills, and even critical thinking skills!

Enhances Fine Motor Skills: Whether it’s cutting, gluing, or decorating, gingerbread themed crafts and activities require the use of your little learners hands, which helps improves coordination and can strengthen those super important finger and hand muscles.

Social Skills: So many of these activities can be done in partners or small groups which opens the opportunity for kids to communicate, share ideas, and work on their social skills.  Important skills like taking turns, listening to others’ ideas, and collaboration are just a few of the super important social-emotional skills that can be worked on with these activities!   If you need more ideas for working on social emotional learning in your classroom, check out some tips here!

As you can see, there are so many amazing perks to using gingerbread themed activities with your kids!  Most important of all though, they make learning even more fun, which is always a win in my book!  

25+ Ideas To Create A Fun Gingerbread Theme

Gingerbread Themed Art Activities

The holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year to do arts and crafts projects.  Of course, we love doing arts and crafts projects year round in my classroom, but there’s just something extra special about a holiday themed craft!   Gingerbread themed arts and crafts always put a smile on my preschoolers’ faces!  They love any project that involves creating a super cute gingerbread man or gingerbread house.  I know your kids are going to love these activities this year!

1. Easy Foam Gingerbread Cookie Ornaments for Kids

Making ornaments is so much fun!  There are an endless amount of Christmas ornament ideas out there, but if you’re looking for a cute gingerbread cookie ornament this is the one for you!  Handling cookie cutters, cutting with scissors, painting, sprinkling glitter, and adding beads are just a few of the many steps to this activity that will have your child creating amazingly cute Easy Foam Gingerbread Cookie Ornaments for Kids while strengthening  fine motor skills. 

More Gingerbread Themed Art Activities for Kids

• This activity is perfect for kids who love to be creative. Setting up this Gingerbread Man Invitation To Create is simple and can lead to strengthening creativity so easily.
• Here’s a super cute gingerbread paper ornament that is easy to make and fun for kids to decorate. Plus, it doesn’t cost much at all to make!
• This is a super cute activity that can be used over and over and over. Kids can use the provided pieces to create a gingerbread friend, create stories, and more!
• The best gingerbread houses are ones that you can play inside. This is a DIY Gingerbread house that is candy free and a fun place to play!

Gingerbread Themed Math Activities

The holiday season is a great opportunity to make math both fun and engaging for preschoolers! As a teacher, I love using gingerbread-themed activities to help my students practice important math skills like counting, shapes, and one to one correspondence.  Here are some of my favorite gingerbread inspired math activities that will keep your little learners excited and learning this holiday season!

1. Free Printable Gingerbread Roll and Count Math Game

Counting is a super fun skill to work on, especially when you have an interactive activity with an adorable theme!  This Free Printable Gingerbread Roll and Count Math Game is the perfect way to work on multiple math skills like one to one correspondence, number writing, and numeral identification.   Getting to add buttons to the gingerbread man is just an added bonus!

Shapes are one of my preschoolers’ favorite math skills to work on!  We love playing games with shapes and these 3 Printable Gingerbread Shapes Activities are some of our favorite games to play to practice shapes.  Memory matching, spin and cover, and clip cards all make fabulous activities for learning shapes and keeping kids engaged!

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2. 3 Printable Gingerbread Shapes Activities

3. Free Printable Gingerbread Shape Play Dough Mats

Play dough mats and shapes are the perfect pair for preschoolers!  Free Printable Gingerbread Shape Play Dough Mats are one of the best ways to work on fine motor skills, strengthen finger and hand muscles, and creating shapes.  So much fun!

More Gingerbread Themed Math Activities

• These Gingerbread Subtraction Mats are absolutely perfect for kindergarten or first grade morning tubs. The pack comes with the gum drop counters too!
• Gingerbread men live in gingerbread houses and this addition game has both! It is a simple addition activity is great for group work or individual play!
• This gingerbread and gum drop game can help little ones with counting and creating math grids. Any game with a die is a win in our book!

Gingerbread Themed Literacy Activities

There is no time like the present to spark a love for reading and writing in preschoolers! As a teacher, I really enjoy incorporating gingerbread themed activities to help my students strengthen their literacy skills. From letter recognition to word building, these fun, hands-on activities make learning feel magical, just like the holiday season! I just love gingerbread-inspired literacy activities that not only help little learners grow in their reading skills, but also help to celebrate the season!

1. Free Printable Write the Room Gingerbread Emotions Activity

Practicing writing is an important preschool and kindergarten skill, but sometimes kids are reluctant to work on it.  Activities that are interactive and fun make writing more enjoyable for kids, and if you can make it feel like a game that’s even better!  This Free Printable Write the Room Gingerbread Emotions Activity will get kids up, moving, and writing this winter!

2. Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Mini Book

Mini books are another wonderful way to work on literacy skills!  This Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Mini Book is not only a great literacy activity where kids can practice reading and identifying letters, but it is also a really good way to talk about emotions with little ones.  Kids will love talking about the different emotions they see on the gingerbread men’s faces in their mini book! (A huge plus for language development!)

3. Gingerbread Free Word Work Printable for CVCE Words

Building a gingerbread house is super fun, and building CVCE words on a gingerbread house is even more fun!  This Gingerbread Free Word Work Printable for CVCE Words is easy to assemble, the instructions are super simple, and can be used as an independent or partner activity!  You can easily differentiate and provide as little or as much support for your child as you would like.  Such a versatile activity!

4. Free Printable Gingerbread Preschool Sequencing Activities

Sequencing is one of the first reading comprehension skills that is taught to preschoolers and kindergartners.  Putting events from a story into chronological order is what kids need to practice, and this Free Printable Gingerbread Preschool is an amazing way to work on the skill.  The little pieces for this activity also make it great for fine motor skills!!

More Gingerbread Themed Literacy Activities

• Part of strengthening handwriting is mastering how to hold a pencil and follow along the line. These Gingerbread Prewriting Strips are perfect to help kids with this skill!
• Learning initial sounds can be confusing for some kids, but definitely fun at the same time. Especially with something as fun as this Gingerbread Puzzle.
• Learning sight words has never been so fun as with this Gingerbread Sight Word Game. The best part is it is editable, so you can add whichever words your kids are working on!
• We love using themes to make our own books, like this Gingerbread Man Book Making activity. My favorite part about book making is it can be adjusted to the level of the child, whether it be adding illustrations or creating the story itself.

Gingerbread Themed STEM Activities

I love exploring STEM concepts with preschoolers in a hands-on way!   I’m so excited to share some of my favorite gingerbread-inspired STEM activities that will captivate your little learners’ attention.  Science experiments and engineering activities are just a few of the many activities you are going to love in this list!

Gingerbread Themed STEM Activities

• Just because it may be cold outside doesn’t mean that ice isn’t fun to play with. This science activity is all about melting ice, but in the shape of gingerbread men!
• Building a Gingerbread House is more than just frosting and candy. This Edible STEM activity connects the fun of the holidays with a lesson in building.
• Science is so fun because the results can be different depending on what is used. This Gingerbread Science experiment helps show kids that different substances can result in different reactions.
• Simple reactions never get old. This activity has a reaction that your kids may have seen before, but not with the smell of delicious cinnamon.
• Growing salt crystals is a fun way to make ornaments, but this gingerbread version is even more adorable! Kids will love this.
• Learn about boats and bridges in this fun Gingerbread STEM Activity!
• This STEM activity explore gingerbread men and bridges!  Kids are going to love this one!
• Can you build the best gingerbread man trap in this activity?

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Gingerbread Themed Sensory Activities

Delicious cookies, eye-catching designs, sweet smells, soft dough…is there anything that screams sensory experience more than gingerbread?  The holiday season is a wonderful time to engage preschoolers in sensory rich activities, and gingerbread is the perfect theme to explore! I love incorporating gingerbread inspired sensory activities into my holiday activity rotation that allow my students to touch, smell, and explore in creative ways. These hands-on experiences not only bring the holiday spirit to life, but also help develop important sensory and fine motor skills.  Get ready to be completely captivated by gingerbread sensory activities!

More Gingerbread Themed Sensory Activities

• Play dough is a fabulous tool for helping to learn things like counting and forming shapes. This gingerbread man and gumdrops play dough mat helps with both!
• Rice is fabulous and fun to use as a filler in a sensory bin. Making it scented adds even more sensory elements to the activity just like with this Gingerbread Scented Rice.
• This fun sensory activity includes touch, scent and more. This is not your average gingerbread craft this is a gingerbread sensory activity!
• Sensory bags are great for kids from babies to teens. This Gingerbread Sensory Bag has so many fun elements and a squishy texture without creating a mess!
• Gingerbread is a fabulous smell. It is one of the best for the holidays. This Gingerbread Play Dough is a scented sensory activity that is perfect for the holidays!

Gingerbread Themed Fine Motor Skills Activities

Gingerbread themed activities are such a fun way to help kids strengthen their hand-eye coordination, grip, and dexterity!  Just the process of creating gingerbread men and houses are wonderful fine motor skill activities, but if you’re wanting even more great activities you don’t have to look any further!  Celebrate the holiday season and enjoy a super fun gingerbread theme with these fun fine motor skill activities!

1. Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Game for Kids

Games are one of my favorite ways to work on fine motor skills.  The picking up of game cards, rolling of dice, and moving of marker pieces are just a few of the tasks required of kids during games that can be so good for strengthening  fine motor skills. This Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Game for Kids is not only great for fine motor skills, but it is also wonderful for working on social-emotional skills and talking about emotions!

2. Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Roll & Create Activity

Play dough is (in my opinion) one of the best tools for working on fine motor skills.  It is the perfect texture for kids to squish and move around in their hands to strengthen finger and hand muscles.  Your kids are going to love moving the play dough around to make all of the emotions that the gingerbread men are feeling in this activity.  Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Roll & Create Activity will be on repeat in your home or classroom this winter sparking creativity, helping learn social emotional skills, and strengthening fine motor skills!

3. Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions BINGO Game

Who doesn’t love a fun game of BINGO??  My kids LOVE BINGO and this Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions BINGO Game is always a huge hit around the holidays!  Matching emotions, talking about feelings, and working on fine motor skills are just a few of the many skills you can work on with this game!

4. Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Matching Game

Little people, big emotions, fun matching game!  When your kids are feeling big emotions, you want them to be able to express them in a healthy way.  This Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Matching Game is a simple, fun, and easy way to teach and talk about emotions and strengthen fine motor skills at the same time!

5. Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Puzzle Activity

Puzzles are so good for fine motor skills!  Picking up the pieces, moving them around, arranging them to fit perfectly, and then pressing them into place are great for finger and hand dexterity and flexibility.  A Free Printable Gingerbread Emotions Puzzle Activity is just what you need to work on fine motor skills and do a fun holiday themed puzzle this winter!

More Gingerbread Themed Motor Skills Activities

• Gingerbread fine motor mats are perfect for working on fine motor skills!
• Match colors and work on fine motor skills with these colorful pom pom activity mats.
• This Gingerbread Craft is not only super cute, but also amazing for fine motor skills
• Coloring this fun Gingerbread Book is great for fine motor skills and literacy skills!

More Winter Activities You’ll Love:

Free Printable Activities for Winter:

• Winter 2D Shape Posters & I Spy Game
• Winter Number Tracing Worksheets
• Winter Gross Motor Dice for Brain Breaks
• Winter LEGO Mats
• Snow Shapes Math Activity