Printable Gingerbread Emotions Board Game
I don’t know what it is about gingerbread men, but I just adore them! Kids seem to love these little characters too. Today, I’m sharing a fun gingerbread emotions board game that you can easily print, laminate and enjoy over and over again. Readers have been loving our emotions board game for years and this NEW printable emotions board game is gingerbread themed just in time for the holiday season. This is a fun way to help your preschoolers and kindergarteners learn about emotions.
From facial recognition to the words for each emotion and everything in between, you can help your child learn to express their emotions correctly when you play this gingerbread emotions board game together.
It’s really not easy being a kid.
I know that my kids go through so many emotions that sometimes I have no idea how to keep up. Kids are constantly growing and switching how they feel about different things, combine that with peers and community activities, you never know what emotion the kids may walk in the door with.
That’s why I love creating games like this gingerbread emotions board game! When I created our more traditional emotions board game a few years ago, I had no idea how popular it would become. Every month, thousands of readers download the game to play with their kids.
Get the Original Emotions Board Game here.
But adding a new theme is a great way to keep kids interested in an activity that they need to continue reviewing.
This gingerbread theme emotions board game is a fun way to help kids learn how to embrace their emotions and express them regularly. It’s so much easier to be a parent to children who’ve learned how to express their feelings in a healthy manner!
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Prepping the Gingerbread Emotions Board Game
Print the gingerbread emotions board game template on paper or cardstock. Print the gingerbread emotions game pieces.
After you’ve printed all of your game pieces and the game board for your gingerbread emotions board game laminate the pieces for durability.
Cut out each of the game pieces so that they’re able to be used as playing cards for the gingerbread emotions board game.
To Play:
Place your marker on the “Start” of the board game. Place all the cards upside-down on the “Card Draw Pile”.
Choose a player to go first.
The player will draw a card from the pile and read the emotion from the card. Then the player will move his game marker to the next space that matches that emotion.
If a “Christmas Present” card is drawn the player will head to the closest Christmas Present space, even if it is behind him. He should answer the question that is on the Christmas present card.
This is a great game to open up a dialogue about how your children are feeling. Playing this gingerbread emotions board game will help you discuss emotions with the kids and how different situations make you feel.
Younger children may have a difficult time sharing their feelings, but they can use the gingerbread emotions board game pieces to share a picture of what they’re feeling. Being able to have a tool like this for younger children to point to an object that shows how they’re feeling is a wonderful way to help your child be better at sharing how they feel throughout the day.
Being able to play an emotions board game with your children and encourage them to share their feelings is an excellent way to start having a high level of emotional intelligence to take on anything that is tossed your way during childhood and life in general.
Add some fun gingerbread books and continue the conversation about emotions as you talk about the way the characters in the books are feeling.
Our Favorite Books About Emotions:
We can’t live without these!
Once your child’s creativity is sparked with this fun activity, take it a step further with these engaging resources:
When I Feel Anxious: Children’s Book about Overcoming Worries, Emotions & Feelings, Kindergarten, Preschool Kids (Coping Skills)B is for Breathe: The ABCs of Coping with Fussy and Frustrating Feelings
When I Get Upset: (Emotions & feelings, kids books, ages 3 5, preschool) (Self-Regulation Skills)
Feelings Yoga: Self-Soothing Yoga for Kids
When I am Angry: Kids Books about Anger, ages 3 5, children’s books (Self-Regulation Skills)
The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions
The Feelings Activity Book for Children: 50 Activities to Identify, Understand, and Manage Your Feelings
Big Feelings
Roaring Mad Riley: An Anger Management Story for Kids
Glad Monster, Sad Monster
Pig’s Big Feelings
When I Feel Left Out: Children’s Book About Emotions And Feelings, Kids Ages 4-6 (Preschool, Picture Book, Coping Skills)
Calm-Down Time (Toddler Tools)
The Impatient Dinosaur: (Children’s Books About Emotions & Feelings, Kids Ages 3 5, Preschool, Kindergarten)
More from our Shop
Find even more engaging activities in the Life Over C’s shop!
Thank you for this great game. It fit in perfectly for our gingerbread theme and our Second Step social emotional curriculum lessons. One noticing I had though was that the kids had a hard time differentiating happy, excited, and proud. It would be great if these emotion games had a few other emotions that weren’t all showing a “happy” face.
We will definitely play again and they really did enjoy it.
I am so glad your students liked this. Thanks for letting us know!