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Gingerbread theme for 3 and 4 year olds: a week of activities

A gingerbread theme lesson plan for 3 and 4 year olds: what a day looks like, then the week's circle time (ten to fifteen minutes, with a child holding the book), books, craft, song, snack, letter and outside time, each with what changes at this age.

Plan this week for 3 and 4 year oldsThe whole gingerbread week

A day of the gingerbread theme with 3 and 4 year olds

  1. Arrival, sign-in, and a job from the helper chart.
  2. Circle (ten to fifteen minutes): calendar, “Why did the gingerbread man run away?”, sing “pat-a-cake”, then Fox and the Hen.
  3. Centers, with the craft at one table: gingerbread person.
  4. Letter G: trace it once, then hunt for G around the room.
  5. Snack: Banana Oat Cookies, with children pouring and counting.
  6. Outside: run, run, as fast as you can.
  7. Rest, then a longer read-aloud: The Gingerbread Man.

Gingerbread circle time

  1. Good morning song, then say each name together.
  2. Calendar: the day, the date and the weather.
  3. Ask: “Why did the gingerbread man run away?”
  4. Sing: Pat-a-Cake.
  5. Read: The Gingerbread Man (read aloud).

Threes and fours: ten to fifteen minutes; let a child hold the book.

Gingerbread theme books

  • The Gingerbread Man (read aloud, level 5): A read-aloud: the old tale, with the line children shout along.
  • Fox and the Hen (level 1, free on peabody.kids): A kinder fox, to compare with the one in the tale.
  • A Bun for Fran (level 2, free on peabody.kids): A bun to share, for the bakery corner.

Gingerbread craft: Gingerbread person

You need (4): a brown card person (grown-up cuts), crayons, buttons or stickers, glue stick.

  1. Draw the face.
  2. Glue on buttons or stickers.
  3. Give your gingerbread person a name.

With a grown-up. No heat, nothing hot.

Gingerbread song: Pat-a-Cake

The words

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man, Bake me a cake as fast as you can; Pat it and prick it and mark it with B, And put it in the oven for baby and me.

Traditional; public domain. From Top 52 nursery rhymes with lyrics.

Gingerbread snack

Banana Oat Cookies from the Peabody Kitchen: picture steps, allergy swaps and safety lines on the recipe.

Letter G activities

GgG is for gingerbread. Print the two pages (a trace page and a color page).

Threes and fours: trace G and g once, then find G in the room and in the book.

Outside activity: Run, run, as fast as you can

A chasing game: the gingerbread runners run to the fence; the fox (a grown-up) walks slowly after them.

Gingerbread theme for toddlersGingerbread theme for 2 year oldsGingerbread theme, all ages

Checked 2026-10-30