Miss Lucy's Teaching Fun: Gingerbread man

16.11.14

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly - Fall and Autumn Cookies

For me, baking season officially starts when autumn days become brisk and short. Last year I baked tons of gingerbread men for my preschoolers in order to make the whole story more interesting.

This year my choice has fallen on the song "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" which tells the story of an old woman who swallowed several animals one after the other, each one increasingly larger, in an attempt to catch the last animal she had swallowed.

This song brought to mind the image of happy children and their parents making animal-shaped cookies in their kitchens while listening to the song in the background. Then I could see those same children later pretending to be the old lady and swallowing one cookie after another following the same sequence as in the song.

To make that vision come true I had to call my good friend Rita who's not only a great teacher herself but also an awesome confectioner. She started her professional career as a psychologist and used her natural talents with kids to teach English to a generation of Spanish students. Despite leading an active and busy life, her love for food never waned, so two years ago, Rita started a food blog mostly dedicated to baking and the fascinating world of cookie decorating.

Can you think of anyone more suited to this challenge?

Her blog has several cookie recipes you could choose from, but these two are my favorites for the fall season: Maple and spicy fall cookies, Spicy Pumpkin Cookies

Once we had baked the cookies, we spent a couple of hours decorating them. Althoug I felt a little clumsy because it was my absolute first time, even though I really enjoyed the drawing part… I was oblivious to the existence of edible ink food coloring markers (!!!!) until last Sunday.

And you could do the same with your kids too. Remember that having a good time is one of the basic ingredients for learning!

--> Quiero leer este post en español

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8.1.09

🍪 Fun in the Kitchen with Gingerbread People

Who belongs to the Gingerbread Family? What are they wearing? What are their clothes made of? And, most importantly, what yummy ingredients can we use to decorate them?

Let's create our very own Gingerbread Family Tree and have fun describing people, clothes, colours and food in English!

🎯 Subject Areas

Food and sweets
Body parts
Clothes
Family members and family tree

🗣️ Language Focus

Let's describe our gingerbread characters!

GINGER DADDY

He's wearing a pair of striped trousers.
He's got a white belt made of pink icing.
His buttons are made of chocolate.

GINGER MUMMY

She's wearing a long, colourful dress.
She's got two purple chocolate buttons.
She's wearing a white icing belt.

GINGER DAUGHTER & GINGER SON

What is Ginger Daughter wearing?
What colour is her skirt?
Is Ginger Son wearing a pair of shorts or trousers?
What is his mouth made of?
Are their buttons made of sweets or chocolate?

Encourage children to use their imagination and come up with their own delicious designs!

💬 Communication Goals

By the end of the activity, children will be able to:

Describe people and their appearance.
Ask and answer questions about clothes and colours.
Name different sweets, candies and food ingredients.
Talk about family members.
Listen to and understand the story of The Gingerbread Man.

🎨 Let's Make a Gingerbread Family Tree!

Ready for some sweet creativity? Here's how to set up the activity!

1. Meet the Gingerbread Family

Give each child paper templates of gingerbread men, women and children. Explain that they are going to create their very own Gingerbread Family Tree!

2. Choose your ingredients!

Prepare a list of ingredients and sweets that can be used to decorate the gingerbread characters. Think icing, chocolate buttons, colourful candies, sprinkles, jelly beans and much more!

3. Let's decorate!

Draw the different ingredients on the blackboard so children can copy them and use them to decorate their gingerbread characters.

4. Time to talk!

Invite children to show their Gingerbread Family Tree to the class. Ask each child to describe one or two family members.

You can ask questions such as:

Who is this?
What is he/she wearing?
What colour is his/her skirt?
What are his/her buttons made of?
Has he/she got a chocolate mouth?

Let the children ask questions, too!