Correctly sequencing the events that occur in a story is an essential part of reading comprehension. Promote reading comprehension in your preschool students by having them sequence the events that occurred in the "Gingerbread Boy" story. Select images from the beginning, middle and end of the text and photocopy them. Lay the images out in a jumbled order and, after reading the story, invite children to examine the pictures and arrange them in the correct order in which they happened in the book.
Have your students practice number recognition and one-to-one correspondence skills with this math activity. Trace a gingerbread man cookie cutter onto construction paper five times. Number each of the gingerbread shapes one through five. Place an amount of buttons or gumdrops on each of the gingerbread boys that equal the numbers printed on them. For example, place one button on the shape marked one, two buttons on the one marked two, and so on.
Bake gingerbread-baby cookies with your students. Set out the ingredients for gingerbread and enlist the help of your students to mix the batter. After making the gingerbread and rolling it out, have children use a cookie cutter to press out gingerbread-boy cookies and bake them. Once baked, allow students to decorate their cookies with frosting, gumdrops, M&Ms and other treats and enjoy the cookies during snack time. Through baking, children learn math skills, learn how to follow directions and learn the importance of working together; not to mention they get to enjoy a tasty treat.
Make gingerbread play dough for children to use for fine-motor development. Use a rolling pin to roll out brown play dough and sprinkle nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger into the dough. Roll the dough into a ball to mix the spices together and add a gingerbread scent to the play dough. Provide children with the play dough and encourage them to use it to sculpt shapes, letters and other items for a sensory-filled fine-motor experience.