The Gingerbread Baby

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The Gingerbread Baby

by Jan Brett, Putnam, 1999

 

There are many different versions of The Gingerbread Man available.

The repeatable phrase, "catch me if you can”, in the Gingerbread Baby, is easier to verbalize and/or program then other versions of the story.  However suggestions are the same with any version.

 

Concepts and Themes To Teach

  • Run
  • Fast
  • Farmer
  • Animals: bear, wolf, fox (different versions contain different animals)

 

 

Expanded Core Curriculum Skills and Activities

 

 

Compensatory Skills

  • Scented ornament

Cut-out gingerbread man shapes out of course sandpaper or use a die-cut machine.  (Do not use your good scissors!).  Have the child rub a cinnamon stick over the sandpaper, creating a scented shape.  Can use smaller size for ornaments or just display.

 

  • Glue spices on a gingerbread shape.  When dried this becomes a scratch ‘n sniff.

 

  • Easy Gingerbread Dough
  • Add spice to applesauce until it becomes the consistency of a dough.  Can use any spice, but you will need a lot of it so buy in bulk!  Use the dough to play with, or roll out flat and then cut-out with a cookie cutter.  The dough can be dried and used as an ornament.  It takes several days to dry.  Put a hole near the top before the dough dries to tie a ribbon through.

 

  • Make Gingerbread play dough

1 cup flour

½ cup salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 cup water

1 tsp. vegetable oil

spices: ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, pie spice

Mix the flour, salt, and cream of tartar.  Add the spices in amount to achieve intensity that you want. Mix the oil and water together, and then add the flour mixture.  Cook for a few minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently.  When the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan, take it off of the heat.  Knead the dough until it is soft and smooth.  Will store well for several weeks.

 

  • Gingerbread Houses

There are several companies that have kits to make and decorate a gingerbread house, usually requiring only additional purchased candy.

Can also a house make out of graham crackers.  The glue that holds the pieces together can be made from confectioner’s sugar and water, or frosting

 

  • Organization Skills: Describe and write sequencing for decoration.

Use store-bought or home-made cookies.  Have decorations such as raisins, icing, chocolate chips, candies for the parts (eyes, nose, mouth, buttons).  Have the child describe each step of the decoration process, with what goes on first, next, last.  The complexity of the sequence depends on the level of the child.  Write or Braille the sequence out for the child to “reread” back to the adult. 

 

  • Interactive Storybooks

Use simple pictures such as Boardmaker picture symbols to have available for placement in and out of a cardboard book.

 

Orientation and Mobility

  • Body parts of the Cookie

Have the child label the body parts of the cookie.  Have the child decide which body part they are going to bite off first, stop after each bite to determine which is next.

Variation: have die-cut shapes available also.  After the child bites off a body part, have them tear off the same part on the paper shape.

 

 

  • Spatial relationships

Use a special gingerbread cut-out or stuffed character.  Place the gingerbread man in different locations around the room.  The child should describe the location of the gingerbread man using prepositions and spatial concepts.  Example: next to the chair, on top of the shelf, in the oven, etc.

 

  • Hunt for the Lost Gingerbread Man

Make one large gingerbread man and cook it in the oven.  Emphasize you hope the gingerbread man does not run away.  The gingerbread man should mysteriously “disappear” when the child is not aware.  This begins a hunt of various locations either around the room or in the building.  The hints could be verbally given, presented in notes, or a trail presented in a map.  The notes could encourage the child to explore rooms, “look for me in (under, on, above) the ___”.  The trail could also be provided by smell, using a gingerbread scent air freshener (of course this requires two adults and destinations which are further apart.

 

 

Independent Living Skills

  • Cooking Tools

Have the child identify the cooking tools as they are being used: measuring cups, measuring spoons, rolling pins, pastry blender, etc.

 

  • Use a rolling pin to roll out dough

 

  • Make Gingerbread Cookies.  Taste and smell each ingredient.  Any basic recipe can be used, including the one found on Jan Brett’s website: www.janbrett.com.  Talk about the salt, sugar, molasses, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon.  Show a cinnamon stick, can use a grater to make own cinnamon.

 

  • Can also bake gingerbread cake, muffins, or gingersnap cookies

 

  • Decorate Gingerbread Cookies

Use candy, raisins, and tubes of icing to decorate a prepared cookie.  Help the child identify the body parts of the cookie.  Begin the decorating fun emphasizing and selecting a decoration for each part of the body. 

 

Recreation & Leisure

  • Retell the story, assisting the child to run whenever it appropriate in the story, reciting “run, run, as fast as you can”.  After several phrases, wait to see if the child anticipates running.

 

 

Assistive Technology

  • Activating switch

Program a voice output switch with the repeatable phrase (“run, run as fast as you can”).  The child participates in the story by activitating the switch as the appropriate time. 

 

 

Visual Efficiency Skills

  • Decorating Shapes

Cut out a negative of the gingerbread man in a larger sheet of brown paper.  Laminate the shape so that it can be used on the lightbox.  The child can use overhead pens to put on the face parts and decorate the shape.

 

  • Matching Game

Using several die-cuts of a gingerbread man

Glue the figures down on a backing in various orientations.  The child takes another die-cut and matches it to each correct orientation.

 

  • Animal Card Match

The animals’ faces in the story can be found on the Jan Brett website.  Print out on cardstock and use the cards to develop a matching game.  The number of animals selected depends on the students visual abilities, for example the pictures of the fox and the cat are very similar.

 

  • Matching Pairs

Use arts ‘n craft materials to decorate two die-cuts the same for a match.  Present a number of shapes mixed-up for the child to search and find the matching shapes.  This could be a tactile or visual activity.