You can’t catch me. I’m the Gingerbread Man!
Why do I love this book so much? Well to start with, it is just fun and engaging, and the children love it. There are also so many teachable components that can come out of this book. The first one is repeating and memorizing phrases. This is one of the building blocks of literacy.
“Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I’m the Gingerbread Man”!
I like to play with the letters of RUN. The younger children will identify them, the older ones can put them back in order after I have shuffled them around.
A favorite activity after reading the story is “Gingerbread Man tag”. The children run after the child holding the Gingerbread Man after he has yelled “Run, run as fast as you can…”. The child who tags him gets to be the next Gingerbread Man (hopefully they will all take turns). They might even choose to make someone into the fox? Literacy on the playground? YES!
Cut out your own Gingerbread Man here:
This story can also bring in math. The fox eats the gingerbread man in quarters. What a great way to introduce fractions! I cut felt gingerbread men into fours pieces for all of the classes.
This story can also inspire some science. The gingerbread man comes to a river but does not go in. Why not? What would happen to him if you went into the river? If you put a cookie into some water, the children can find out for themselves what will happen.
I also love bringing scent into a story. Normally, when we are in the library, I might have a candle burning so they can actually smell the gingerbread. Especially because the woman in the story refers to how good the gingerbread smells when it is baking.
Now for the children’s most favorite part – cookies! Because I read to over 100 children, I use these Pepperidge Farm cookies. Each child takes one home. When they get home, they can take it out and let it “run” all over if they choose (and hopefully reenact the story). When they are ready, they get to turn into the fox and eat it!
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