Gingerbread is EVERYWHERE this time of year! We enjoy making, decorating, and especially eating them.
Instead of just talking about gingerbread, we bring gingerbread cookies into our classroom. We decorate cookies and houses with delicious candies and other adorable decorations. The smell of gingerbread throughout the classroom is the best!!
So if we’re able to make a connection between this seasonal favorite and language, our students will love learning and find reading exciting.
Learning and snack come together with our Yummy Gingerbread Man Book. We take our literacy and gingerbread even further with this Initial Sound Gingerbread Puzzles.
Keeping with our gingerbread theme, we have some math adventures with our Gingerbread Subtraction Mats…, the smiles and giggles from the kids while they’re learning is contagious.
We sing The Gingerbread Man so many times I can’t get it out of my head well after Christmas.
We wouldn’t want it any other way!!
Because playing literacy and math games is a great way to get kids learning without realizing they’re learning.
Rhyming is an important part of teaching our littlest learners how language works. When they are able to anticipate the rhyming word, students will then be able to make predictions when reading.
I’ve created another way to connect gingerbread with literacy. Use these Gingerbread Rhyming Mats to help our preschool and kindergarten students build their phonological awareness in a hands-on way.
Want even more ways to integrate gingerbread into your literacy lessons? Be sure to take a look at our favorite Gingerbread Books.
Inside You’ll Find:
- 15 different gingerbread rhyming pages
- 8 gumdrop pages of rhyming pieces to match up to the gingerbread. Each word has 2 different words to match.
I find it best if you print this center on cardstock and laminate it so you can use the center for future classes. Here are my tips for keeping my Language Arts materials organized throughout the year.
Supply list for Gingerbread Rhyming Mats:
- paper or card stock
- laminating pouches
- laminator
- Gingerbread Rhyming Mats Printable (scroll down to download!)
Using the Gingerbread Rhyming Mats
Students will start their rhyming game by placing all of the pieces on the floor or table. It may help students to work in small groups the first time they try to complete the Gingerbread Rhyming activity.
They will then pick a gingerbread rhyming card. This student chose a gingerbread card with a “pad” on it.
Students will then sort through all of the gumdrops looking for pictures that rhyme with the gingerbread card. This card shows a student placing a gumdrop with “sad” and “bad” as the corresponding rhyming words.
To get this freebie, use the ‘click here to download’ button at the bottom of this page.
Once the gingerbread has two rhyming gumdrops on it, the match-up is completed.
They can then choose another gingerbread man mat and continue matching their rhyming gingerbreads until all the words are done or their time is up.
If you have younger students or students struggling with this concept that might be overwhelmed with all the pieces at once, you can differentiate this activity and have them match only one gumdrop to each gingerbread. Once they master the pieces you gave them, you can slowly add in more.
Want More Christmas Literacy Ideas?
If you want to extend the Christmas theme across your literacy curriculum, check out our Christmas Match-Ups Bundle.
Download Your Gingerbread Rhyming Mats Printable Below!
If you can’t find a resource that you would LOVE to have for your classroom, Contact me and I would be happy to make it for you.
Click the button below to download. You will immediately be redirected to the freebie.
Have fun finding all the ways to rhyme and playing our Gingerbread Rhyming Mats activity in your classroom!
Jennifer
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Linda Toney says
December 8, 2018 at 10:44 amThank you
So wonderful to find learning activity
For my Head Start class.
Jennifer Hamilton says
December 10, 2018 at 12:49 pmThank you so much! I’m so happy you are finding activities that work well for your class!