Today I planned to make felt cookies. I originally envisioned round cookies with various felt toppings that the kids could use in their play kitchen for pretend play, but I noticed two things that changed my mind a bit. First Lovey has really enjoyed the gingerbread activities from our last two advent days. Second Tinker is very interested in naming and identifying body parts and facial features right now.
So I changed our plans a bit and decided to create a felt gingerbread set. I used a simple template to cut out large gingerbread men.
DIY Felt Gingerbread Set
I gathered our bin of felt scraps. Then we looked through some of our favorite gingerbread books to get ideas. Lovey chose things she wanted to have for decorating them, and I did my best to create something similar. I am not too artistically inclined, but the pieces work well enough. Next year to dress them up a bit we may add some sparkly decorations like we did with our felt tree.
FIND EVEN MORE GINGERBREAD THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE LESSON PLANS
FOR HOME PRESCHOOL AND PRESCHOOL CLASSROOMS.
For now Lovey is having fun coming up with her own gingerbread creations, and Tinker is happy to sit and name all of the facial features of the gingerbread men that we create together.
We will place the felt gingerbread set on cookie sheets for the kids to play with during our play date this weekend. Later in the month we will also be doing a gingerbread mini-unit, so we will use the felt set again at that time.
Have you made a felt gingerbread set? I would love to see some more ideas.
MORE GINGERBREAD FUN WITH PRINTABLE DINOSAUR THEME LESSON PLANS
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
Watch this short video to see just a few examples of the types of activities and printables included in this set:
The full Gingerbread Theme Lesson Plan Pack also includes:
1) Gingerbread Man Character Puppets (in color and b/w)
2) Gingerbread Color Sorting Mats and Object Cards
3) Gingerbread Man Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Matching Colors (in color and b/w)
4) Gingerbread Man Gingerbread House Measurement and Size Sorting Cards
5) Gingerbread Man Number Cards (in color and b/w)
6) Gingerbread Man Ten-Frame Mats 1-10 (in color and b/w)
7) Gingerbread Man Pattern Prompt Task Cards
8) Gingerbread Man Rhyming Sort
9) Gingerbread Man Ending Sound Matching Puzzles
10) Gingerbread Man Roll and Graph Game
11) Gingerbread Man Water Science Experiment Recording Sheet (in color and b/w)
12) Gingerbread Letter Cookie Recording Sheet (in color and b/w)
13) Decorate a Gingerbread House Counting Mats for Numbers 1-10 and one blank version in color and b/w
14) Gingerbread Five Senses Recording Sheet (in color and b/w)
GET YOUR LESSON PLANS
Home Preschool Gingerbread Theme Lesson Plans
Preschool Classroom Gingerbread Theme Lesson Plans
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Hands-On Holidays eBook-Get even more inspiration for your advent calendar.
Less stress, more connecting this holiday season? Yes, PLEASE!
From the arrival of fall to Halloween to Thanksgiving and Christmas, the last four months of the year can be a wonderful opportunity for making family memories and spending time together, but they can also be stressful as we try to collect ideas, recipes, and activities to try together.
Stephanie Morgan, founder of Modern Parents Messy Kids, a site that’s been voted Best Craft Blog in Parents Magazine and one of babble.com’s Top 50 Craft Mom Blogs, recently released a new eBook to help us have a little less stress and more time to connect with family this year.
Stephanie’s goal is to make it easier on all of us to enjoy the holidays with our kids. Hands-On Holidays is 100 pages full of her family’s very favorite ways to connect as a family over the holiday season. I love the convenience of having so many ideas in one place, and most of them are simple enough for even my toddler to participate in.
The book includes picture book suggestions, DIY decor, activities, and treats. Bonus sections also offer even more ideas to enjoy. Click here to view more details.
This post has been shared at some of these fantastic link parties.
Lindsey - Seedlings Nursery School
We have a felt gingerbread man too, it’s a very popular activity! Adorable! 🙂
Sharon@DiscoverExploreLearn
Adorable ! I love how simple this activity is. I definitely need to make these for my kiddos to enjoy. Who doesn’t love gingerbread men ?! 🙂
Shaunna
Thanks! It was definitely simple to put together, and all of the kids have enjoyed playing with it in their own way.
Julie
Liked this so much, I featured it on this week’s Mom’s Library Link-Up! Hop over and grab a I’ve been Featured on Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk button to proudly display!
Looking forward to see what you’ve been up to this week!
Julie @ Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk
http://www.heymommychocolatemilk.blogspot.com
Shaunna
Thanks so much, Julie! Glad you liked them!
The Iowa Farmer's Wife
Thanks so much for sharing on the Sunday Showcase! We made something similar last year! 🙂 http://www.theiowafarmerswife.com/2011/12/felt-gingerbreadmangirl-dress-up-doll.html
Shaunna
Wow! Your version is so adorable. I definitely saw some great ideas for pieces to add to our set. Thanks for sharing!
Karyn
This is such a fun idea! Iwould really love to have you come by and share your fun things at Share It Saturday!
http://www.teachbesideme.com/2012/12/share-it-saturday.html
Shaunna
I am so glad you liked the idea. I will definitely head over to share at Share It Saturday. Thank you for the invite.
Jolanthe
So very cute and such a fun idea! Thanks for linking up with us!
Shaunna
Thanks so much for stopping by to check them out. Glad you liked them 🙂
Kirstylee
This is so cool. I would love to try this with magnetic pieces, too, so that my kids could play it in the car.
Shaunna
I am glad you like it! And we must think alike. As I started making them I thought it would be neat to have magnetic pieces, too. I only had felt and magnets, so I wasn’t sure if the decorative pieces would attract through the gingerbread person. I decided not to chance it since the girls were eagerly waiting to play. 🙂 Let me know if you try it out with felt or with magnetic sheets. I’d love to see how it turns out.