Preschool Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Theme

Below you can tons of Gingerbread and Sweet Treat Activities and Lesson Planning Ideas for your Preschooler.
Click on a button below to view a section
Use the yellow arrow to return to the top!

Planning your Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Theme

Club Members can download all of ​our Gingerbread & Sweet Treats Printables and
their Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Theme Planning Guide for free!
Not a member? Learn More Here

Download our Free Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Preschool Sample Lesson Plan

Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Arts & Crafts Ideas

You can add all kinds of Scents to your Dough and paint for some added festive fun. Try peppermint, Gingerbread Seasonings, and Cocoa Powder. Demonstrate how to make "Dough Candy Canes" by rolling coils out of Red and White Peppermint dough.
Kathy M. of Just like Home Childcare & Playschool Inc. created this adorable build a Gingerbread man invitation using paper gingerbread men and an assortment of decorating items.
Naomi G of Play Matters Preschool set out this invitation to decorate a Gingerbread Man using all kinds of fun Holiday baubles.
Erica P. of Erica's Educare Learning Center created an invitation to decorate gingerbread men from a foam sticker ornament set.
Gingerbread scented puffy paint is a treat for the senses and fun to use!
Head over to the blog to get the recipe and step-by-step instructions for making Puffy Paint

Candy Cane Marble Painting

Cut a candy cane shape from red construction paper then invite children to marble paint using white paint. 

                                        Bakery

Encourage your kids to bake this week. Add cookie sheets, Mixing Bowls, Plastic Cookie Cutters, Aprons, Oven Mitts, and Seasonal Cook Books to your dramatic play space. You can cut out fun felt cookies, Laminate Paper Cookies, or encourage the kids to create their own baking creations.
Add fun signs for your little bakery from my Bakery Dramatic Play pack or my Santa's Workshop Dramatic Play pack. 

Hot Chocolate Stand

Don't forget the Hot Chocolate! Add Plastic Mugs, and empty Hot Cocoa tins to your space this week (Don't forget to send a shout out to your clients to save them for your space), Cotton Balls make fun pretend "Marshmallows".
Warm up with this Hot Chocolate Stand from Pre-K Printable fun.
The clever dramatic play space is belongs to community member Amy McMonagle with BuggaBee & Me Day Care and Preschool. Amy has it all ready for the Holiday Season.

                           Gingerbread House

If you are up for a DIY project, consider building a Gingerbread house for your dramatic play space This adorable one above was created by community member, Kristin M. of Apron Strings Daycare.
Our friend Erica P. of Erica's Educare Learning center made this Gingerbread playhouse complete with Frosting (spray foam).

Gingerbread Village

Encourage the kids to build their own gingerbread village! Set out blocks,
white felt snow "frosting", large pom pom or foam "candy" and gingerbread people
(laminate paper ones, or purchase plastic ones) to the space.

Gingerbread House Small World Play

Kathy M. scored this fabulous Gingerbread House at her local Goodwill!What a fun find for the kiddos at Just Like Home Childcare and Playschool.

You can also consider upcycling an older dollhouse. Let the students help by painting it , and gluing on pretend candy.
Picture
Photo Credit Kathy M. Just Like Home Childcare and Playschool.

Candy Construction

 This Candy Construction Set from Learning Resources is one of my favorite building sets for Sweet Treats Week.

Construct a Gingerbread House

Combine engineering skill development with cooking by constructing a gingerbread house with your preschoolers. 
Subscriber Jesse F shared this photo of the gingerbread houses her group built. 

Build Candy Canes with Blocks​

Use alternating red and white cube blocks to make a candy cane.
Gingerbread & Sweet Treats Themed Language & Literacy Activity and
Center Ideas along with book suggestions and read aloud activities

Sweet Treats Word Wall Cards

Add these word wall cards to your literacy center for writing inspiration or use in your gross motor activities from the Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Preschool Activity Pack. 

Make Letter Cookies

Make up some sugar cookies to use with letter cookie cutters. If baking isn't an option pair the cookie cutters with play dough for pretend baking. 

            Gingerbread Man Storybook Theater

Children will love re-telling and acting out "The Gingerbread Man" story with this Gingerbread Man Storybook Theater Set from Pre-K Printable Fun.

Gingerbread Man Story Basket

Community Member Cassandra created this beautiful story re-telling basket. She combined the characters and scene making materials and placed it near a copy of the Gingerbread Man.

Uppercase-Lowercase Letter Matching

Practice Matching Uppercase and Lowercase Letters with this Literacy Activity found inside the PKPF Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Preschool Activity Pack

Santa's Cookies Sight Words

Try adding some play dough and letter stamps to this Santa's Cookies Sight Words set for added engagement. 

Candy Cane Letters

Provide students with red and white striped pipe cleaners to bend and twist into letters.

Gingerbread Adjectives 

Create a large classroom anchor chart with a gingerbread man and have preschoolers use words to describe him.

Gingerbread Letter Hunt

Print out gingerbread man from the Gingerbread Activity Pack, write letters A-Z on the gingerbread men and hide them around your classroom for a letter hunt. ​

The Gingerbread Baby Pre-K Book Companion

Immerse your preschool learners in the magical world of the "Gingerbread Baby" by Jan Brett with our engaging Printable Preschool Gingerbread Baby Book Companion Set. Designed to complement the enchanting story, these activities bring the tale to life while fostering creativity, critical thinking, and fine motor skills.
Picture
Get this in our shop!

The Sweet Smell of Christmas Pre-K Book Companion

This delightful The Sweet Smell of Christmas Preschool companion set has been specially designed to complement the enchanting holiday book, "The Sweet Smell of Christmas" by Patricia M. Scarry. 
​
Picture
Get this in our shop!
This site uses affiliate links (What's that?)
Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett
The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst
Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett and Jan Brett
If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Joffe Numeroff and Felicia Bond
Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes by James and Kimberly Dean
The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia Scarry


​You can incorporate sweet treats in a variety of Educational math games this week.
Use Sweets to count or build patterns with. Gum Drops make a fun "Color Matching" activity.

Gingerbread Cookie Shape Matching

Practice shape discrimination skills with this fun gingerbread cookies and mat set from the Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Preschool Activity Pack

Sweet Treats Patterning

Invite your preschooler to practice patterning skills with this patterning set from the ​Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Preschool Activity Pack

Peppermint Candy Patterning

Provide students with real or faux red and green peppermint candies to use to create AB patterns. Students that have mastered AB patterns can attempt an AAB or ABB repeating pattern.

Hot Chocolate & Candy Cane Color Matching

Here's a tasty twist on color matching, match up the candy canes to the same colored cup of hot chocolate included in the Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Preschool Activity Pack 

Peppermint Candy Tic Tac Toe

Create a fun invitation to play tic tac toe! Draw a tic tac toe board on a large piece of paper and use red and green circle peppermint candies for the playing pieces.

Count and Compare Candy Canes

Provide a large and small candy cane. Predict which one has more red stripes, then count to find out!

Candy Cane Shapes

Provide regular candy canes and candy cane sticks for preschoolers to create a variety of shapes with. 

Measure with Candy Canes

Use candy canes to measure objects and compare sizes.

Sweet Treat Engineering

Challenge children to create structures made from sweet treats. Set up an open invitation with treats (such as marshmallows, and gumdrops) and toothpicks. Encourage children to plan their creation before they start building. 

Sweet Smells of Christmas Sensory Jar Activity

Christmas scent jars are a great exploration for smell. Set up jars with Christmas scents such as vanilla, pine, cinnamon, and peppermint. Challenge children to match up pictures of the sweet treats to the jars. 
Pair this sensory activity with the book The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia M Scarry

Explore your Sense of Smell

Hot Chocolate Sensory Bin

This Hot Chocolate Sensory Bin was created by community member Cheryl V. of Cherie's Learning Tree and is sure to provide a lot of fun on a Winters Day. Cheryl used the Chocolate Play Dough Recipe from Nurture Store!

Sweet Treat Potpourri

Set up a station with a variety of sweet and complimentary scented items such as cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, pine needles, peppermints and orange peels. Give each children a ziplock bag to fill with items of their choosing. Then help them poke holes in the bag. 

                                Bake Sweet Treats

Bake Gingerbread Cookies with your preschoolers! This is a wonderful sensory and math experience, then you can decorate your cookies for a bit of edible art! Easy is the key when cooking with kids and we have a great easy gingerbread recipe for you on our blog.

Sweet Treat Sink or Float

Gather some candy canes, peppermints, gum drops, marshmallows, and bowls to try this fun experiment.  Fill the bowls with some water then place each candy in its own bowl and see if they sink or float!  Have your preschooler make predictions beforehand to see which candies they think will sink and which ones will float. 

                      Gingerbread STEM Challenge

The Gingerbread Man is on the loose again and this time he needs your preschooler's help! Preschoolers will learn the basics of buoyancy as they experiment with materials that sink and float to help the Gingerbread Man build a boat to safely get across the river. Available in our shop. 

Candy Cane Lacing Fine Motor Activity

Combine fine motor, hand-eye coordination and patterning in this sweet activity. 
Provide plain white chenille stems (or pipe cleaners), bend the top to resemble a candy cane. 
Add red and white pony beads and invite children to create a pattern. For children that have mastered AB patterning encourage them to try ABB patterning or add in a new color for ABC patterning. 

Gingerbread Play Dough

​Erica P. of Erica's Educare Learning Center created this fabulous play dough Gingerbread man invitation using cookie cutters, rolling pins, Cranberries, Ric Rac, Cinnamon Sticks, and Fresh Pine. You can find a great recipe for Gingerbread Play Dough from Housing a Forest.

Shape Clip Cards

help preschoolers strengthen little hands and work on hand-eye coordination with these peppermint shape clip cards from our Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Activity Pack

Hot Chocolate Play Dough

This Hot Chocolate Dough Invitation was created by Erica P of Erica's Educare Learning Center. You can find a great recipe for Chocolate Play Dough From Fireflies and Mudpies

Pre-Writing and Cutting Practice

Enhance fine motor skills by practicing following lines from left to right with this page from the ​Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Preschool Activity Pack

​Play Dough Cookies

Add some scented play dough, rolling pins, and a variety of holiday cookie cutters to your play dough center for your preschoolers to make cookies and other sweet treats. 

Christmas Dough Mats

Add themed dough mats like the sweet themed mats included in the Christmas Dough Mats set for a great hand workout.

Going on a Candy Cane Hunt

Hide candy canes around the learning space for children to search high and low for..be sure to include a variety of places that require children to move their whole body. ​Communicate the number of candy canes hidden so they can count as they collect the candy canes. Try hiding candy canes of different colors or sizes to incorporate color recognition or seriation. ​

                Move like a Gingerbread Action Cards

Gingerbread people sure get in a big workout with all that running and jumping! Get your kids inspired to move the same way with this roll and play cube. ​Available in our Gingerbread & Sweet Treats Activity Pack 

Peppermint Writing Tray

Create an engaging writing tray that's a treat for the senses! Set up a Peppermint Writing tray for your preschoolers. 
Picture
Try this!

Gingerbread & Sweet Treats Themed History, Geography, Social-Emotional, and Cultural Ideas

                             Gingerbread on the Map

Engage in a fun Gingerbread Man sightings event !

Cookie Taste Test

Host a taste test of cookies from other cultures!
 Before tasting discuss where the cookie is popular, find the location on a map. Investigate the cookies through taste, smell, and sight to determine any known ingredients.
Here is a list of the best tasting cookies from around the world for some inspiration. 

Sweet Treats Class Recipe Book

Create a class recipe book, each student can bring in their favorite cookie recipe or make up their own to add to the book! Pre-K Printable Club Members: We have an exclusive printable for easily creating a class recipe book, get your free download via our easy download link in the Class Recipe Book shop listing.

Group Play

Practice turn taking skills by setting up this roll and build gingerbread house activity for your preschoolers, from the ​Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Preschool Activity Pack

Sweet Circle Time Rhyme

Bring this little circle time rhyme to your group time! 
Included in the Winter Circle Time Rhymes pack. 

Sweet Treats Calendar Theme

Add some sweetness to your calendar activities with themed cWinter Calendar Games
Members can download all of these products for free using the special member links in the shop listings, or from the download area! Not a member? Purchase below, or find out how to join!

Gingerbread and Sweet Treats Preschool Activity Pack

$7.00
Shop

Hot Chocolate Dramatic Play Pack

$4.00
Shop

Bakery Dramatic Play Pack

$5.00
Shop

Gingerbread Man Puppet Theater

$5.00
Shop

Winter Circle Time Rhymes

$3.00
Shop

Winter Calendar Display and Calendar Games

$3.50
Shop

Positive Student Notes

$3.00
Shop

Gingerbread Man Preschool Boat Building STEM Activity

$3.00
Shop

Christmas We Are Closed Sign (Members Only)

$0.00
Shop

The Sweet Smell of Christmas Pre-K Book Companion

$3.00
Shop

The Gingerbread Baby Pre-K Book Companion

$3.00
Shop

Learning Centers

Preschool Learning Centers are commonly referred to as Preschool Centers, or Learning Spaces. These are activity areas dedicated to a specific type of of play and exploring a variety of topics and activities. Download our Free set of Center Signs!