What is the Gingerbread Man Sightings Project?

 This Gingerbread Man Sightings Project, is a fun parent and family engagement activity!
This project is sure to bring excitement to your program each year that you facilitate it! 
It's fun for educators, their students, and their families to participate in!

While engaging in this project there are plenty of opportunities for learning, including social studies, science, literacy, team building, math and much more!

This project is intended to last for a week, but it can be longer if you choose).
Find some additional information about the materials you'll need, and details to set up this project below!

Project Scope & Suggested Pacing

An important component of any Early Childhood Education Program is Parent Engagement. There are many ways you can creative engage parents in your program. One way you can do this is with a Parent/Family involvement Activity like this letter exchange!

Below you can find additional details about this project, as well as our suggested pacing!

Day 1: After reading your own beloved version of this classic story,  your class/student will make their own gingerbread cookies! They can create real, or pretend cookies.

After the cookies have been lovingly placed in the oven,
they "run away" - while they are in the baking process!

Days: 2&3: The cookies go on adventures all around your city/state- sometimes they even travel to other states. and countries. When, there is a "Sighting" of your Gingerbread Men by friends and family, they send a letter, postcard, video, or email letting you know "Where" they have been seen and "What" they were doing! 
Each time you receive a letter, your student/class can track it on a map!

While they are waiting for their cookies to return, your students can participate in a variety of Gingerbread Themed learning activities and fun!


Day 4: Don't worry, the cookies will return with our last special step of this project! After reading The Gingerbread Baby, *Spoiler* In this story the young baker decides to build a gingerbread house to lure his cookie home,
your group will be doing the same!

Day 5: Your cookies return to their new Gingerbread homes overnight and you close out your unit!

I facilitated this project for many years in my own childcare program, and have coordinated a special events for Pre-K Printables Club Members in years past, and it's always been a blast!

Please be sure to check out the rest of this page for tips and details about each step. You can see samples of other fun learning invitations our members have set up during past projects, and download a free copy of our Gingerbread Man Sightings Engagement Pack.

Sheena
Pre-K Printable Fun Site Manager

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Educator Tips for Setting up the Project

Materials & Tips for Preparing this Project

Before the project begins you will need to gather materials.
Here are the necessary basics (and a few optional fun goodies) that you might want to pick up:

• A version of The Gingerbread Man, you can check out our bookshop for versions we love and other fun books to read along the way
• The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett: After you read this book your students will create a Gingerbread House to lull the Gingerbread back home. If you don't have a copy, you can watch a read aloud on YouTube here.
• Gingerbread Cookies (you can make them from scratch, a box kit, roll out dough, pre-baked cookies or even ones made from paper! Check out the Making Cookies section for ideas)
• A map! You can print one for your town, state, country or even a world map (depending on where your letters will be arriving from)!  Materials to mark the map such as stickers, markers, or string and pins.
• Materials to make a gingerbread house (there are many ways to do this, and some examples below!)
• Fun Gingerbread learning materials, and activities  to support engagement and learning along the way

Download a free copy of our Gingerbread Man Sightings Engagement Pack that includes the following printable activities:

• Tips for facilitating this project in your program
• Parent Announcement Letters (editable)
  
• Gingerbread Men KWL Chart
• Gingerbread Men Missing Poster
• Gingerbread Man Play Dough Mat/Craft Template
• Gingerbread Man Story Sequencing Activity
• Gingerbread Man 2D Shape Clip Cards
• Gingerbread Man on the Run Board Game 
• Gingerbread Man Puzzle
• Gingerbread Man Sorting by Size Activity
• A link to Join our Gingerbread Man Sightings Project Group

Participation

In order for this to be the most successful,
we recommend you collaborate with as many people to as possible to send you "Sighting" letters.

Before communicating about this project, determine the length of time of your project, and the dates it will run, we recommend a week for younger students.

You will need to communicate about the project well in advance (1-2 weeks is ideal).
You will want to set a "deadline" for the letters to arrive. Please be sure to sure to provide the address (or email address) where you would like t You can collect the letters in advance, and place a few in your mailbox each day to keep the "magic alive".

Provide your participants with information about what they should include their letters. We have sample letters below in the "Letter" section. Each person sending a letter should describe details about "where" they saw the Gingerbread Men in their community and "What" they were doing! 
Receiving letters and post cards is always exciting, but we've also enjoyed digital mail over the years. Video messages from different parts of the country, and even emails that contain photos of different landmarks around the country can be printed and read aloud!

Some people to collaborate with:

• Each Students Family!  Let them know about the project in advance, and ask them to contact their extended family (especially if they live in different places in the country or the world! Many people enjoy participating in this event, and look forward to it each year.
• Other teachers, or Childcare Providers: You can work on this fun project by together and agree to send each other letters in the mail, each containing details about where they "saw" the gingerbread men in their city.
  
• Connect with local friends, and businesses to send a letter! This is a fun way for them to support your program!
  

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Sample Participation Letter

You can find a this sample participation letter, inside our free Gingerbread Man Sightings Project Pack. It is editable, so that you can give a letter to parents and friends who many want to be involved with this project. 

Tips for writing "Sighting" Letters

• Consider Buying Gingerbread Themed Cards, fun stationary, or Postcards featuring your city!
• If you are participating in a letter swap with other educators consider creating a template letter and printing several copies.
• Include details that tie in your location, such as: "While I was visiting San Francisco, guess who I saw run by me while I was driving on the Golden Gate Bridge? Your Gingerbread Men!" You can also include fun facts about your City/State, or if you are local you can reference local landmarks/businesses as well.
  

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Day 1: It all began Once Upon A Time....

Before you read.....

Introduce this project to your students with a fun KWL chart, this fun themed KWL chart is available in our Free Gingerbread Man Sightings Project pack.

Read a Copy of The Gingerbread Man

The project begins with a reading of The Gingerbread Man. There are many versions out there so pick your favorite, this version from Jim Aylesworth has lovely illustrations.  The only requirement is that the gingerbread man runs away while baking. 
Of course reading this fun tale is a great lead to baking your own cookies!

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Making the Cookies

This step is a great opportunity for science, math, and creative development. 
​We have seen our members do this step in a variety of ways!

Bake from Scratch

If your feeling adventurous and have the time, baking from scratch is a fun way to kick off this project. 
Easily incorporate math and science lessons as well as contribution with this activity. 
We had a great time doing this and even did some taste tests on the molasses. 
Boxed cookie mixes are also great!

Use Pre-Made Dough

Another option is pre-made dough sheets. These can sometimes be hard to find if you are looking for actual gingerbread flavors. We added raisins to ours for eyes after using the cookie cutters with the roll-out dough. 
Get the mini rolling pins here on amazon. 

Pre-Baked Cookies

Inviting your kiddos to decorate pre-baked cookies and then pop them into a cold oven for finishing works too!
Our reader. Wendy P. shared this photo of these adorable cookies her crew made. 

Craft Gingerbread People

You can even craft them from paper, card stock, foam cutouts or wood! Jennifer Q. shared this photo of her group's gingerbread creations.
If you decide to craft them you can pop them into your play kitchen or even a DIY play oven. ​

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The Escape

You may need assistance with this step! Enlist the help of an assistant, family member, friend, or even a parent of one of your students! While your cookies are “baking” they will escape from the oven. The designated person will need to turn the oven off, remove the cookies, and place them out of site. Consider placing them in the freezer to keep them for the end of the unit!

The Escape Letter

A handwritten escape letter, pre-written from the Gingerbread Men, that is left behind, supports children as they begin to understand what has happened to the gingerbread men.

This is one of the ones I wrote a few years ago.
Sample Verbiage:

“Run, Run, as fast as you can! You can’t catch us we’re Gingerbread Men!”

Wendy P shared this letter that was left for her preschoolers.

I've been doing this project for many many years. During one year I had a student that had done the project in my program before and was on third year, she knew what would happen to those cookies! 
She insisted we taped up the oven! 
Be prepared for these scenarios if you are repeating the project!

After the Escape...

After the escape you can:

• Have a group discussion about where the Gingerbread Men where have gone
• Brainstorm Ideas for how to get them back
• Create Missing Posters
  
• Go on a walk around your neighborhood to hang your posters (or your students can bring their wanted posters home to hang in their own neighborhoods).
  

Missing Posters

After the escape, make your own missing posters. Display them until the gingerbread men come home. 
You can find this  printable inside our free Gingerbread Man Sightings Project Pack.

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Days 2-3: Reading Letters, Tracking The Gingerbread Men, and Activities

When your sighting letters start coming in you can set aside a few minutes a day to read the letters and track the locations together. Place a marker on the map where the cookies were spotted last.

Sample Letter

For many years we had  members who participated in this project. Participating members agreed to mail a letter to each other participant so each class will receive on average 18 letters (more or less depending on the year). 

Here is where you get to use your creativity! For the letters you send you can mail a letter, send post cards, or even cute gingerbread note cards (the choice is yours). Be sure to share a little bit about where you saw the gingerbread men, and what they were doing! You can include information about your own city, or state for some added social studies fun.

As letters arrive your student(s) will open them and read about the gingerbread adventures, here are just a few examples of letters members have mailed in the past. 

Tracking the Sightings on a Map

After reading the letter track it on a map, this is a fun way to introduce maps to young children and get them thinking about the world we live in. 
Many of the participants will include some tidbit about the area they live in. For example "I saw a gingerbread man hop on a cactus in the desert!" or "I saw your gingerbread skiing down the mountain" this helps children visualize the locations where their cookie has been spotted. 
Wendy P shared this photo of her children tracking where their gingerbread man was spotted. 

Gloria C shared this fun display, children track on the map and the sightings are featured around the map. 

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Participating in Gingerbread Themed Activities while you wait!

While waiting for your letters to come in, invite your preschoolers to engage in gingerbread theme learning activities! We have included some examples below! You can also find several more on our Free Gingerbread Man and Sweet Treats Theme Planning Page.

Re-Tell the Story

Practice story retelling with the activities found in our  Gingerbread Stick Puppet Storybook Theater set!

Gingerbread Man Math Activities

Introduce some math fun with this cookie sheet shape matching activity from our Gingerbread & Sweet Treats pack.

Gingerbread Man Crafts

One of our participants, Emily C, made these fun stained glass gingerbread crafts with her kiddos!
​If you haven't made these before check out our tutorial. 

Play a Game

Support color identification with this fun roll and play activity that can be found inside our Gingerbread & Sweet Treats Activity pack. 

Gingerbread Small World Play

This small world play invitation our reader Emily C. made is so adorable!

Gingerbread Man Fine Motor Activity

My preschoolers loved making their own little gingerbread people out of dough and decorating the dough mat. You can find a free Gingerbread Decorating Mat inside our Free Gingerbread Man Sightings Project Pack.

Bakery Dramatic Play

Jazz up your Dramatic Play center with a fun Bakery where preschoolers can pretend to bake and sell all kinds of sweet treats.

Day 4: Luring the Cookies Home

Read the Gingerbread Baby

When you are ready to bring your project to a close it's time to find out how to lure those little cookies home!
Read the book Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett

*Spoiler* In this story, the young baker decides to build a gingerbread house to lure his cookie home, your group will be doing the same!

After reading this story, consider brainstorming some ideas for how they can get their Gingerbread Men to return. What are some things you miss when you are away?

Below are some examples of how our participants have made their houses in the past. 

Gingerbread House Kit

Gloria C used a gingerbread house kit with her preschoolers. This is a fun and easy option!

Graham Cracker House

One year my group made ours with graham crackers and icing. 

Peppermint Gingerbread House

For a fun twist try making a peppermint gingerbread house!

Wooden Gingerbread Houses

Emily C invited her preschoolers to turn little wooden birdhouses into gingerbread houses! This is such a fun way to complete this project. 

Cardboard Gingerbread Houses

Kristen S found these wonderful little gingerbread cookie house boxes, so cute!

Day 5: The Return!

Your students will arrive on day 5 to find their cookies have safely returned to their new Gingerbread homes!

More Tips and Fun Goodies to Add 

It's a funny thing, once you get into this project...you REALLY get into this project! Suddenly you will notice gingerbread goodies everywhere!
​Here are some that our members have shared and love!

In addition to your free event activity pack, you can also find more Gingerbread  activities inside the Pre-K Printable Fun shop-these fun and engaging learning activities are super simple to set up and oh so cute! 
​Also be sure to check out the free Gingerbread & Sweet Treats Theme Planning Page for even more activity ideas related to this theme. 

Gingerbread Themed Cards

Send fun themed cards like these ones found at the dollar tree

Toy Christmas Cookies

Emily C shared this darling set of Christmas cookies her group got to play with. 

Elf on the Shelf Gingerbread Activities

The Elf on the Shelf got in on the fun with Wendy P

Life Sized Gingerbread Play House

This pop-up gingerbread house that Emily C shared is just adorable and perfect for dramatic play!

Dollar Tree Maps

My favorite map is this one found at the dollar tree, it's large, colorful and just the right price.

Gingerbread Inspired Breakfast

Wunderlick daycare shared these tasty looking gingerbread waffles, such a fun snack during this theme!

Project Display

I enjoyed making a display for the parents to see when our project came to a close. I included photos of our activities, our map and some of the letters we received. 

Download Your Free Copy of our Gingerbread Man Sightings Engagemnt Pack

Simply Subscribe to our free Lesson Planning Newsletter for a free copy of this Engagement pack!

Inside you'll find:

• Tips for facilitating this project in your program
• Parent Announcement Letters (editable)
• Gingerbread Men KWL Chart
• Gingerbread Men Missing Poster
• Gingerbread Man Play Dough Mat/Craft Template
• Gingerbread Man Story Sequencing Activity
• Gingerbread Man 2D Shape Clip Cards
• Gingerbread Man on the Run Board Game 
• Gingerbread Man Puzzle
• Gingerbread Man Sorting by Size Activity
• A link to join our Gingerbread Man Sightings Project Facebook Group
  

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