A while back, we read Paul Galdone’s telling of a classic folktale, The Gingerbread Man, to end our day. The class delighted in the repetitive language but were puzzled by the ending. How could the fox catch and eat the gingerbread man?! The gingerbread man was fast! Surely he could have ran away. We talked about strategy and having a plan. One child decided the fox was “tricky." The children thought about who is the fastest runner in the class and, when they play tag at the park, how they can catch him if they make a plan.
This week the teachers decided to revisit The Gingerbread Man during activity time. As a group, we reread the story then moved into the drama area.
Each child took on a role, from the old lady baking the gingerbread man in her oven: the overconfident gingerbread man taunting, “Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I'm the gingerbread man,” the chasing farmers, and finally the fox craftily enticing, “Come a little closer.”
Over in clay, we have mastered rolling balls and coils and pressing slabs, so it was time to put those skills to use. The children made clay representations of the gingerbread man.
Using Karen Schmidt’s illustrations as a guide, the children added clay eyes, mouth, and buttons. It was a challenge to make arms and legs the right thickness to match the body.
Perhaps this holiday weekend you could make a gingerbread man, or woman, with your child and see if you’re cunning enough to catch and eat one!
