Feed the Gingerbread Boy: A Gingerbread Shape Activity for Preschoolers

This is Day 11 of the 12 Days of Christmas Math Games and Activities for Homeschoolers! You can check out the other posts in the series to find easy, hands-on math lesson ideas for your homeschool this month! Today I’m excited to be sharing a fun way for kids to practice identifying and classifying shapes (or anything, really!), using this cute gingerbread shape activity for preschoolers and free printable!

This activity was designed for kids in preschool, who are learning about different shapes. It can be adapted for kids from preschool through 2nd grade using the suggestions included in this plan!

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What You Need:

• This feed the gingerbread boy free printable (get it below!)

• 6 cups, bowls, or small buckets
• A variety of the following shapes: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, star, heart. A package of foam cutouts or foam stickers works well, or you can cut the shapes out of cardstock. We used these shapes, which can also be sorted by size, color, and thickness!
• Scissors and tape
• A laminator to make the gingerbread boys more sturdy (we love this one because it’s affordable and perfect for projects like these!)

Prepare:

• Gather your supplies.
• Print the gingerbread men and cut them out. Cut out the inside of each gingerbread boy’s mouth as well, leaving a hole where the mouth would be.
• Tape each gingerbread boy over the top of a cup or bowl, so that items dropped through the mouth will land in the cup or bowl.

How to do the Gingerbread Shape Activity for Preschoolers:

In this activity, your kids will be sorting the shapes into categories so that they can feed the shapes to the correct gingerbread boy. After they have fed all the shapes to the correct gingerbread boy, they can dump out the cups and do this activity again and again! This simple activity is a fun way for kids to practice classifying shapes.

Other Fun Shape Activities to Try

Adapt It For Your Kids:

For Younger Kids:

Use fewer shapes.

Consider using just a few of the shapes instead of all 6. It will be easier to sort the shapes if there are just a few different kinds.

Making sure the activities are easy and having fun with learning during this season are great ways to reduce holiday stress for kids.

For Older Kids:

Use different kinds of shapes.

Older kids can use more challenging shapes to make this activity more difficult for them. The full 12 Days of Christmas Math printable includes a second set of Feed the Gingerbread Boy printables to use with pattern blocks that includes square, triangle, parallelogram, rhombus, trapezoid, and hexagon shapes. This set also includes blank gingerbread boys so you can use this activity with anything that you want kids to recognize and identify. Kids could practice equilateral, isosceles, and scalene triangles, or kinds of angles, or anything else you can think of!

You can even try making some 3-dimensional shapes using this gingerbread playdough recipe.

Solve math problems.

Using the blank gingerbread boy pattern, make several gingerbread boys to correspond to the answers to math problems. You could practice addition facts, for example, by writing the numbers 11-15 on 5 different gingerbread boys. Then write various addition problems with answers from 11-15 on slips of paper. Your child can solve the problems and feed them to the correct gingerbread boy. You can also use this activity to practice equivalent fractions. Write the reduced fractions on several gingerbread boys and the equivalent fractions on slips of paper for your child to match.

Extensions: Language

This activity can be used for more than just shapes! Using the blank gingerbread boys (found in the full 12 Days of Christmas Math printable), you can practice blends, rhyming words, matching capital and lowercase letters, and more!

What Your Kids Will Learn in this Gingerbread Shape Activity for Preschoolers:

This activity is all about helping kids classify and identify shapes. When you are introducing new vocabulary words to your kids, like the names of the shapes, it helps to do this in stages: 1.Naming: Introduce the item to your child. Tell your child the name. Repeat the name several times, and have your child practice saying it too. Give your child time to explore the object. “This is a square.” 2.Recognizing: Tell your child the name and ask them to find the object. This helps them to reinforce the connection between the object and the name, without having to remember the name. Make this a fun game. “Which one is the square?” 3.Remembering: Ask your child what the name of the object is. This is when you can check to see if your child has learned the new vocabulary word, or if they need more practice. “What is this?”

Get the Gingerbread Shape Activity for Preschoolers Free Printable!

Fill out the form below to get your copy of the snowman addition free printable. I’ll also send the other lessons in the Christmas Math games and activities series straight to your inbox. All your math plans for the month are done!

Get all the 12 Days of Christmas Math Games and Activities Lessons!

This huge 200+ page PDF is stuffed with hands-on activities and printables to complete 12 fun Christmas themed math lessons! Each day includes complete directions and printables, plus bonus tips, extension activities, and worksheets to reinforce the concepts your kids are learning. This huge bundle includes all the activities and printables you will need to complete the 12 Days of Christmas math games and activities, plus bonus worksheets and extension activities that won’t be included in the free downloads! Harness that Christmas excitement to make homeschooling fun this season with this easy-to-use resource!

These lessons were designed for kids in preschool through 1st grade. Each lesson includes adaptations to customize it for your child’s unique needs- or so that siblings can do the activities together!

Learn more about this amazing resource here!

Christmas STEM Bundle- Save 30%

Are you looking for hands-on science experiments for your homeschool too? I’ve combined my Christmas math and science resources into a huge STEM bundle! And when you purchase both resources together you can save 30%! Learn more here.

Check out the other posts in the 12 Days of Christmas Math Games and Activities series here to find more fun activity ideas for your homeschool!