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Gingerbread theme for toddlers: a week of activities

A gingerbread theme lesson plan for toddlers: what a day looks like, then the week's circle time (two or three minutes, on laps), books, craft, song, snack, letter and outside time, each with what changes at this age.

Plan this week for toddlersThe whole gingerbread week

A day of the gingerbread theme with toddlers

  1. Arrival and free play on the floor.
  2. Sing “Pat-a-Cake” with actions; repeat it while you change and feed.
  3. Hold and pass something real for the week (gingerbread), and say its name.
  4. Snack: a toddler-safe version of banana oat cookies (check the recipe's lines for under-4s).
  5. Outside: a short walk looking for run.
  6. Read Fox and the Hen on laps, pointing and naming.
  7. Nap, then the song once more at pick-up.

Gingerbread circle time

  1. Hello song: sing hello to each child by name.
  2. Look out of the window together: sun, rain or clouds?
  3. Show the theme: hold up something real and name it.
  4. Sing: Pat-a-Cake.
  5. Read: The Gingerbread Man (read aloud).

Infants and toddlers: two or three minutes, on laps.

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.

Infants and toddlers: one book, read every day; point and name.

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.

Infants and toddlers: let them touch and hold the materials while you make it; nothing small enough to swallow.

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).

Infants and toddlers: skip the trace page; show the picture page and say the word.

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 2 year oldsGingerbread theme for 3 and 4 year oldsGingerbread theme, all ages

Checked 2026-10-30