Activity
Gingerbread man activities: Tactile skills
Run, run as fast as you can! Trace those lines around the gingerbread man!
“Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!” Holidays are full of fun activities, including making and decorating gingerbread men! Are you looking for gingerbread man-themed resources for students who are tactile learners? Check out these resources that can be printed on a tactile graphics machine, such as the PIAF or Swell machines.
Concept development
Does your student know what a ‘gingerbread man’ is? Preschool and kindergarten classrooms will often make and/or decorate gingerbread man cookies. This is a terrific hands-on activity for all students! Can your student recognize a raised line gingerbread man? Here is a coloring page raised line gingerbread man. Ask your student to find and identify the various parts of the gingerbread man before coloring the gingerbread man.
Options
- Provided labeled crayons and ask your student to use a certain color for each part. (Example: Color the eyes red)
- Provide textured materials which can be adhered to the various parts of the gingerbread coloring sheet. Use the gingerbread man with outlined parts or use the blank gingerbread man, where the student has to determine where to place the various parts.
Resources
Gingerbread man: Counting
Young students are given numerous simple coloring worksheets which build fine motor skills while practicing simple math skills. These worksheets are not to keep students “busy” – these worksheets are designed to practice specific skills and are used to develop the ability to work independently! Unfortunately for students who rely on tactile materials, these worksheets are not always created in an accessible format. It is my personal opinion that it is critical for students to have tactile worksheets! Braille students need access to build the same skills as their peers, plus these braille students can use these tactile worksheets to build concepts. Do not skip these worksheets, especially because it takes time to create tactile versions. Using a tactile graphics machine, it is a simple process to create important raised line worksheets!
The gingerbread counting worksheet can be used in many ways. Add a braille number to each line; ask the student to color (or mark with a crayon) the desired number of gingerbread men.
Want to make your own Gingerbread man counting worksheet? Simply download the gingerbread man blank image. Copy and paste the image into your preferred word document application. Adjust the size of the gingerbread man image and copy it. Paste the gingerbread man in rows. If desired, leave spaces between each gingerbread man and between each row. The smaller the gingerbread man image, the more gingerbread men will fit in each row!
Option
- If desired, fill in the gingerbread man shapes as smaller, solid tactile graphic shapes are easier to count. (Students typically feel the raised shape and do not take time to trace and identify the outline of the shape.)
- Filled in gingerbread men can be smaller (and still easy to identify tactually) allowing more gingerbread men in the row or on the page. Students can count higher numbers.
Note: Repetitive worksheets are a great way for students to become familiar with the activity so that they can complete the activity independently. Young kids LOVE doing similar worksheets, with different themes!
Resource
Gingerbread man: Subitizing
Subitizing tends to be a visual math skill, making it more challenging to adapt for students who are blind. This gingerbread man worksheet template can be used as a gingerbread man-themed worksheet. The first grouping is one row of five gingerbread men – representing a 5-frame. The second and third groupings each have two rows of five gingerbread men – representing a 10-frame. Use these frames to practice subitizing 0-10. Can your student color/mark four gingerbread man? Can you mark the gingerbread men and have your student quickly identify the corresponding number without counting?
Resource
Gingerbread man story: video
Gingerbread man video story:
Additional resources
- Gingerbread man: Sequence, copy and paste activities
- Gingerbread Man First Bite Chart Activities (tactile chart progressing to accessible table and digital charts in pages)
- Gingerbread Man Coding activity (OctoStudio app)
by Diane Brauner
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