Gingerbread Tot Bag

In honor of our Gingerbread theme week, I decided to put together some activities for the tot. This tot bag can go along with any Gingerbread man/baby book. We are using Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett and The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone. Here are some of the items I included in my tot bag.

 The first activity is a play dough mat. This will be used two different ways: (1) with gingerbread play dough (recipe follows) and (2) with some candy magnets. Both were free printables and the links are listed below.

On the back of the play dough mat, I added a shape match picture. The shapes are magnetic which my tot loves. I found this at Making Learning Fun (link below).

I made a gingerbread puppet to use while reading the story and a felt gingerbread for Kaleb to dress. The puppet was a combination of patterns that I found and the clothes for the gingerbread were cut free handed.

I also made six simple gingerbread cookies. I added these with a spatula and a cookie sheet for some cookie flipping fun. These were very easy to make. I was able to sew them by hand while watching a Christmas movie.

Lastly, I included a gingerbread size sort and a simple gingerbread puzzle. I made the puzzle magnetic to make it easier to put together and stay together. All of these activities were free to print and easy to make. All of the materials I used, I had on hand, no extra shopping trips.

I hope this encourages you to make a tot bag for your little ones whether for the holidays or just for fun. I love being able to grab a tot bag if I need something to occupy my tot in a hurry. It seemed only fair that he gets to participate in some Christmas themed fun!

Links

Living WorldsApart my gingerbread pinterest board

Pre Kinders has the free printable play dough mats. One set has numbers for older tots and another set is just the house to print.

Play Dough Recipe has the recipe for gingerbread play dough to use with the play dough mats.

Homeschool Share is where I found the candies to print. These can be used to practice patterns and addition for older children. This file has other printables but I felt they were too old for my tot. I will be using them later though.

Making Learning Fun has the printable shape match game I used.

Things for Boys has a printable pattern for a gingerbread puppet. I used this for the outline.

KizClub also has a printable pattern for some puppets - a gingerbread man, snowman, santa and a reindeer.

The Iowa Farmer's Wife gave me the idea for the gingerbread dress activity.

She Wears Flowers gave me the idea for the cookie flip. I made my gingerbread because we don't have cool stores like Jo Ann's here.

Homeschool Creations has a free printable pack for the Gingerbread Baby. This is where I found the simple puzzle and the size sort. Again, this pack is great but too advanced for my tot at the moment.