Oh man! I love gingerbread in speech therapy! It is so much fun and every session ends up being different. There are tons of gingerbread man variations out there so I am not claiming these are the best…just the ones I like!
The original “Gingerbread Man” story even has tons of variations. The 2 that I have end the same way but have different characters that he runs from. “The Gingerbread Man” by Jim Aylesworth is a great one. I like it for school age kids since it does use the characters like butcher and sow. The vocabulary is more on elementary age kiddos. The other “Gingerbread Man” book by Karen Schmidt is much easier to read! Shorter text with common characters like farmers, a bear and a wolf make this one better for my 3-4 year old clients.
Now, all you TEXAS SLPs out there…here is a book you need if you don’t already own it! Heck, even English/Language Arts teachers…you need this book in your December lesson plans! “The Jalapeno Man” will not disappoint! The figurative language in this book make it a little hard for young kids to follow. I’ve read it to kids as young as 7 year olds working on articulation. Your language clients may struggle to follow it. It is “wordy” but it is so worth it!!! The little ol’ rancher’s wife decides to whip up a real gingerbread vaquero for her husband and the story goes from there! Watch as the sneaky coyote follows his prey through Texas hill country. Seriously ADORBS! Great examples of similes on every page!
“The Gingerbread Girl” is absolutely perfect for your girls! I stumbled upon this book when my daughter was little. She loved it. I loved it! I see kids individually so I get so excited when I have a girl on my caseload. However, I have had boys choose to hear this one too! It is a complete twist on “The Gingerbread Man,” making it great to compare/contrast!! (PS- Wouldn’t you know? I just happen to have a FREEBIE to help you compare/contrast 2 stories! You can snag this freebie as well as more here!)
Ok, one last book… “Ten Gingerbread Men” is cute! I use this one with my preschool clients. This year, I made it more interactive with a playdough smash mat. As we read the story, a gingerbread man is left on each page. Instead of removing a gingerbread man from our mat, we just smash playdough on him! Doing this makes it more tangible for my little guys. They realize that we are loosing gingerbread cookies! Wouldn’t you know it? I made this a FREEBIE for you too!!! One blog post with 2 FREBBIES…Have I lost my mind? No, it has been gone a long time! (hahaha!) PS-you can grab this freebie plus more here!
I would love to know what gingerbread books you use this time year! What’s your favorite?
Needing some ideas/activities for your gingerbread theme?
Check out my TpT site for this freebie as well as:
Yummy Gingerbread Activities for Speech and Language
Gingerbread SMUSH Mats for Speech and Language
Gingerbread Possessive Pronoun Packet for Speech Therapy
Looking to make planning a breeze with one book? Check out my free resource library.
