Teaching Young Children About The Gingerbread Man

If you are teaching early years children about trust in others then at one time or another you may be focussing on the story of The Gingerbread Man and specifically issues of trust. You will need comprehensive key stage 1 resources, material about issues of personal safety as well as top quality teaching resources looking specifically at the story of The Gingerbread Man.

The Gingerbread Man is one of a number of classical fairy tales that engages children from the very outset. This is an especially well-liked story for children in the age range of 3 to six years old.

To create the best program of work with The Gingerbread Man you will benefit from teaching resources for The Gingerbread Man. This tale is one of a series of very useful key stage 1 teaching resources.

The story tells the tale of a gingerbread cookie made in the shape of a man who comes alive and determines to make his escape. He evades a multitude of pursuers, taunting them as he is going. He meets his demise by the hands of a cunning fox who manipulates The Gingerbread Man into relaxing his guard. The tale makes in depth use of rhythm and repetition. In some versions The Gingerbread Man cries out as each quarter of him is devoured.

The Gingerbread Man may be used to draw out standard features such as story language, characters, plots and offers many options to cover objectives for conversation and listening. Young people can re-tell the story orally using photographs as visual cues. As children become acquainted with the text and repetition of The Gingerbread Man they will be able to re-tell the tale themselves after having had it read to them a number of times.

It is good practice to provide puppets and other interactive objects related to the story so the children can re-tell or re-enact the tale using using pictures, puppets and story props in small groups. Children could use masks and act out the story outside or in the role-play area. Young children are sometimes enthusiastic to perform this kind of activity independently, without adult intervention.

Allowing children to re-tell stories themselves helps to develop their story telling abilities, builds their self-esteem and develops the social skills for working in a tiny group. To form extra interest, the story might be recorded, filmed or said in some other way to what’s left of the class.

Fairy tales are useful tools for identifying basic story elements the beginning, the middle and the end. There are a few versions of The Gingerbread Man and they can form the root of an exercise in comparing one with another.

There are lots of activities of a creative nature that early years children can indulge in. Collages and paintings can be created and once displayed the lecture room will look vibrant and full of colour. Every child will be able to have their work displayed.

One specific activity that is inspired by this story is for children to cook their own real gingerbread men following a time-honoured recipe and decorate their culinary masterpieces using a spread of icing and fruits.

The Gingerbread Man inspires many different ideas for creative writing. The process of making different versions and endings can be a valuable exercise. Telling the story of The Gingerbread Man from a different character’s perspective can also be challenging and a good stimulus for inspiring extra creative story writing abilities.

It is sometimes useful to perform in a dramatic stage setting and use drama in advance of creative writing and hot seating some of the characters gives a good understanding of character portraits. The children can create their own versions using different settings, characters and props. All of these practical ideas and activities inspire young children to think in a theatrical way and act as a stimulus when it comes to writing. It is widely thought that boys in particular gain from active drama and role-play experiences before being asked to write.