1-2-3 Come Do Some Gingerbread-Themed Math Activities With Me

Since the last week of school before Christmas break, tends to be filled with a lot of shall we say, energy, I try to plug in some especially fun activities, that still practice a variety of standards. 

With that in mind, I designed the whopping 167-page Gingerbread Number Fun Packet. 

As a special Merry Christmas treat, I’ve decided to price it at $4.95 instead of the usual $9.95 price for packets over 100 pages long.

It’s chock full of worksheets, games, emergent readers, puzzles & activities that cover a variety of standards and skills for PK-1st, all involving numbers in some way.

Simply pick what’s appropriate for your kiddos to practice . . .

Counting to 130, counting backwards from 10 to 1, skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s, sequencing, patterning, 2D shapes, ordinal numbers, colors, listening & following directions, data collection & analysis, small-medium-large, number words, groups/sets, addition, subtraction, non-standard units of measurement, odd & even, end punctuation, greater & less than, spatial directions, symmetry, +one more, 10 frames, and addresses.

I’ve offered 2-on-a-page patterns to save paper & ink, and included full-color teacher templates, so that you can quickly & easily make samples to share. 

Use these activities as worksheets, whole-group assessments, games, independent centers, or for homework, a sub folder and early finishers.  

A personal favorite of mine are the number puzzles. 

I use them for a math center, but also allow my kiddos to choose one and make their own.  Kiddos can practice sequencing numbers from 1-10, or counting backwards from 10 to 1, plus skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s, or 10s.

The "Measure measure as fast as you can.  I will help you. I'm the gingerbread man." measurement activities are especially fun too. 

My Y5s really enjoy scampering around the room finding "stuff" to measure with their 3 sizes of gingerbread cookies.

They use the small, medium and large gingerbread men, as a non-standard unit of measurement, to measure how many gingerbread cookies tall they are etc. 

Both the puzzles and measurement activities, are perfect for party day, as they are that creative, something different, that will grab their attention, and keep them happily engaged.

Here's hoping this packet gives you plenty of activities to plug into your day, that are easy-peasy for you, and fun for your kiddos. Gingerbread Number Fun

The featured FREEBIE for today is a super-fun wreath craftivity, perfect for the last week of school. 

This keepsake, fingerprint wreath is a nice decorative gift that students can make for their family, and demonstrates secondary colors: Yellow + Blue = Green. 

"I made this pretty wreath for you. I made it by mixing yellow and blue.
Yellow + Blue as you have seen, makes a lovely Christmas green.
The red berries, I’ll give you a hint, are made from someone’s fingerprint.
This wreath is a circle it has no end. It’s like my love, that I now send."

Yes, you can simplify things, and just have your kiddos use green paint, but I assure you, their squeals of delight, as 2 different colors blend together to make a new color, is priceless,  and well worth the mess.  It's almost magical. 

Well that's it for today.  Yesterday was "Christmas cookie-baking day" with 2 of my grandchildren, so today is "clean up the mess" day. 

I think we made more messes and memories than we did cookies, but the giggles, kisses and love were just as sweet. Wishing you a stress-free week, as you wind down to a much-deserved break.

"In the cookies of life, friends are the chocolate chips." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Gingerbread Activities With Me

Our Gingerbread theme was one of my Y5's favorites for December. (Mine too!)  It's pretty neutral, so if your district is picky about what you can and can't do at your school, perhaps gingerbread will be "appropriate".

A few years ago I designed the schoolhouse fact family packet, followed up by the haunted house fact families, so why not make a winter-themed fact family right; what could be more fitting for a winter fact family than a gingerbread house? 

I've made some revisions and added a few more things to this newest collection of fact family houses.  I hope you enjoy today's FREEBIE. Click on the link to grab it. Gingerbread Fact Family Houses.

I really like it when my activities match, so I've used D. H. Inkers' adorable gingerbread house for a variety of lessons that I hope you'll enjoy.

I had a special request from Erin, in Montana, for gingerbread house number cards, so I got busy and whipped those together. 

I've included math symbols and counter tiles, so you can do even more things with them + games and several bookmarks.

I also dreamed up an odd and even sorting mat, and thought it would be cute to sort via odd or even gingerbread house "address" numbers. 

To practice the format for writing an address, as well as help children memorize their zip code, I've included a "give your gingerbread an address" activity.

When I made up my sample, I wondered if there really was a city named Christmas Cove and to my delight there was!  It's in Maine, the state my son Steven, was born in.  There's also a Christmas, Michigan (my home state) as well as a Christmas, Florida. (Oh to be there right now!)  Simply Google cities with holiday names, for a list of all sorts of sites, with this fun trivia.

If your kiddo’s want to locate their gingerbread house close to Santa, 99705 is the zip code listed when I googled Alaska and clicked on North Pole.  There’s nothing there for over 400 miles though; and just an FYI The North Pole is NOT a land mass. 

This is a fact that you should really share with your kiddo’s, because of the Polar Express ( a personal favorite) and other stories and cartoons, many children think that it is.

The North Pole is a definition of the latitude, which is 90 degrees north. That exact location will find you in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, so I don’t think there’s a floating post office out there.  There are ice flows though.

The most northerly piece of land on earth is Kaffeklubben Island, which according to Wikipedia is 83°40′N, 29°50′W, and is 707 kilometers (440 mi) from the geographic North Pole. I've included more information in the packet, and found some nice photography on YouTube from the weather cams at the North Pole. Click on the link to take the trip.

For the gingerbread address activity and number card fun, click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread Number Fun Packet.

This led to making gingerbread house groups/sets cards.  Cut them up and make into puzzles and Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?" games. I've included counters for even more options. Click on the link to grab those to go along with the above packet.

I also made a Gingerbread House Slider.  Click on the link for this great whole-group assessing tool.  I've included upper & lowercase letter strips, numbers, shapes, + skip counting sliders for 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's. 

Add pizzazz to your kiddo's houses with glitter glue, white puffy paint, or colored confetti.  I really like the candy-like look of the confetti. 

You can buy a bag at most party stores for less than $2. Stock up for next year after New Year's when bags are as much as 75% off.

To reinforce patterning, have students pick a pattern and then use a red and green marker to trace the numbers & letters.

TIPS: It's easier for them to trace BEFORE they cut their strips apart.  Putting a piece of Scotch tape on the back of seams also makes for smooth sliding. Click on the link to view/download the Gingerbread House Slider.

Finally, I had so much fun with the confetti, I thought of a gingerbread shape game.  Children pick a partner and take turns spinning, whatever shape they land on, they color that matching "window" on their gingerbread house. 

When they are done playing the game, decorate the roof tops with confetti.  For that added bit of pizzazz, have your students cut their door, so that it opens, and then glue a photo inside. 

I've also included a gingerbread man button matching game in this packet too.  Children play this shape game, by rolling a dice. When they are done, they draw a face on their gingerbread.  Click on the link for the Gingerbread Shapes Up Game.

Thanks for visiting.  It's time to go catch some snowflakes on my tongue, while I frolic as a child with my little grandson Kaiden.  Wishing you a fun-filled magical day. 

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is to sing loud for all to hear; and of course whipping up a batch of gingerbread to share." -Unknown