This past week’s special projects were all gingerbread-themed. It is admittedly a little bit past the gingerbread season, but they make as great a treat on a rainy day as on a snowy one!
On Monday, we read the board book version of The Gingerbread Boy by Kathy Wilburn. First, the teacher read the book aloud to the children, and then led a discussion to clarify the plot and characters. The children had interesting questions and observations about the story. One child commented, “The gingerbread boy runs really fast, like me.” Another said, “I think the cat is a girl.” Then, the children each had a turn “reading” the book to the class by looking at the pictures and telling the story. This kind of “reading” boosts children’s literacy and comprehension, communication skills, and creativity.
On Tuesday, we decorated paper gingerbread men. Children were allowed to get creative with different art materials, including markers, pipe cleaners, glue, glitter, foam shapes, and stickers. They love to work on these group activities, and share art ideas with each other. Here they are at work:
The finished products!
The following day, we began a cooking project to make real gingerbread cookies. But since cooking projects are so much fun, we decided to make them during the day, so that the half-day and extended-day children could participate, too. Here are snapshots of the teacher explaining the ingredients and the children helping to mix the dough.
On Thursday, we finished up the baking. The children each rolled out the dough, cut out gingerbread men, and decorated them.
Each gingerbread man was as cute as it was delicious!
