Flannel Friday: Build a Gingerbread Person

These gingerbread people will be used at the Early Literacy Fair as an extension activity for the traditional story about the gingerbread man. Kids will be able to design their own gingerbread man with felt pieces. They can make him into a her, give him running shoes and different clothes, and make him happy, sad, angry or surprised.

I got the design for the adorable sneakers from Storytimes with Moxie. I would have had no idea how to make my sneakers Converse if it hadn't been for her cute Pete the Cat shoes. She has other shoes on this post too, so make sure you check it out.

I cut out the rest of the pieces free hand to match the gingerbread man template I found on All Kids Network. I made the template larger in Microsoft Publisher and then printed it and cut it out on brown felt. I did all the detail for the pieces with puff paint and some of the sneaker detail is done with a Sharpie.

This activity will help kids develop several early literacy skills:
*Comprehension skills by developing background knowledge
*Social & emotional skills by learning about and giving the gingerbread people different facial expressions
*Narrative or storytelling skills and vocabulary development when the kids tell their parents about the gingerbread pieces they put together and create a story about their gingerbread person