Christmastime is full of wonder and fun, especially when it comes to learning for toddlers and preschoolers. These gingerbread-themed color activities for preschoolers are a great way to teach colors to toddlers and preschoolers.
Teaching colors can be introduced to toddlers at home and in the classroom and should be practiced throughout the preschool years. Color matching and sorting also help develop other important skills such as fine motor and differentiation skills.
These sweet gingerbread printables can easily be added to your Christmas color matching activities for toddlers and preschoolers.
Tis the season for some color-filled fun!
Run, Run…..as fast as you can….and grab these gingerbread man color sorting mats! They are a perfect addition to your color activities for preschoolers and toddlers.
If you are looking for gingerbread theme activities for your classroom or home, this is an awesome resource that teaches colors, matching, sorting, and fine motor skills. It is a wonderful activity for toddlers, who are now ready to learn colors and color matching. Toddlers and preschoolers alike will delight in these adorable gingerbread sorting mats.
Additionally, you will want to be prepared to have great hands-on color sorting activities for your themes all year long!
Check out my Color Sorting Mats for the Entire Year bundle to keep your color activities thematic and FUN!
When Can A Toddler Match Colors?
It’s fairly typical at pediatric check-ups for doctors to test a child’s color knowledge. Children can begin to learn colors as early as 18 months. They have probably started exploring colors already.
Parents can encourage color identification by naturally incorporating color names into daily tasks. “Your cup is green” or “Let’s put on your blue shoes”, are two examples.
Likewise, early childhood teachers can start teaching colors identification and color matching in a toddler class. Printable color activities like these gingerbread color sorting mats are a great way to start.
Be sure to take a look at all my color sorting mats found at the end of this post.
Color Books For Toddlers
Learning colors is great fun with these vibrant color books for toddlers and preschoolers! Your toddler will be begging to read these early childhood favorites over and over again!
Christmas Color Matching Activities For Toddlers
These free printable gingerbread color sorting mats are a wonderful way to teach colors this Christmas season. The printable features six colorful gingerbread men in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Aren’t they just adorable?
What’s Included
- FREE gingerbread color sorting mats designed to teach your basic primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) and secondary colors (orange, green, and purple)
Additional Materials Needed
- manipulatives in rainbow colors
- dry erase pouch (optional)
- dry erase markers (optional)
- laminator (optional)
How To Use Color Sorting Printable
Using these fun gingerbread color sorting mats to teach colors to toddlers and preschoolers is very simple. Once you have printed the mats, set them out on a table with a bucket of colorful pompoms or other rainbow-colored manipulatives like Lego Duplo.
Then invite the children to sort the manipulatives by placing them on the gingerbread mat of the same color.
As your preschooler is working, talk with them about the colors they are sorting. Clearly state the color they are working on and ask them where they might see that color somewhere else in their environment.
This will help them make connections about what they are learning in the classroom with what they see in the world.
Some children may have difficulties sorting the colors correctly. If this happens be sure to model how to choose a manipulative and place it against each gingerbread mat until a match is found. You may ask “Does this match?” or “Is this the same color?” Encourage the child to keep trying until they have found the correct match.
Color Sorting Games
You can easily add these gingerbread color sorting mats to your toddler and preschool math centers, but they’re not limited to just that. Try some of these other games and activities as a way to extend the uses of these adorable gingerbread printables!
- Use them on a wall or bulletin board as a way to decorate for the holidays and teach colors to toddlers and preschoolers.
- Include tweezers or tongs with the manipulatives to encourage preschoolers to practice fine motor skills.
- Cut out the gingerbread men and tape them to a cardboard tube and have your preschooler drop color matching pom poms into the tube.
- Add a die and have preschoolers roll and count out the manipulatives to incorporate some math into the activity.
- Laminate the gingerbread mats for durability and use with play dough or loose parts.
If you are looking for more fun and festive themed learning activities, we have an alphabet and beginning sound activity set and a number identification and counting set, both with a Christmas theme!
Gingerbread Man Activities For Toddlers
Since a gingerbread theme is soo much fun, I wanted to share some more gingerbread man activities for toddlers and preschoolers with you. Try these out this winter and see how gingerbread men can come to life in your classroom or home!
Gingerbread Boy Color Bingo Game
What child (or adult for that matter) doesn’t love a game of Bingo? This Gingerbread Boy Color Bingo Game is sure to delight your little gingerbread boys and girls. One of the best parts? There are two different variations to play, one aimed at toddlers and one designed for preschoolers.
Gingerbread Oobleck Messy Play For Christmas
Oobleck! Can we all scream “Yay for Oobleck”? Don’t let the words “messy play” scare you. It is a glorious, giggle-filled type of play that will make any mess well worth it. I promise. Check out this Gingerbread Oobleck Messy Play for Christmas activity!
Gingerbread Numbers Order Printable
This Gingerbread Numbers Order Printable is a great way to practice counting and one-to-one correspondence, as part of your gingerbread theme. For toddlers, model and maybe count just a few and for preschoolers, they can count on with more independence. This precious interactive number line will be an absolute delight this holiday season.
Gingerbread Books For Toddlers
No gingerbread activity is complete without some well-written picture books! Try some of these picture books. Some are traditional gingerbread man stories, others are less traditional.
Gingerbread Man Toys
Gingerbread man toys can bring literacy and math activities to life in such a fun and interactive way. Consider adding some of these products to your classroom or home. You can incorporate them with the gingerbread books above or into any center or thematic activity of your choice.
Get Your Gingerbread Man Color Sorting Mats Here
Think you need these free color sorting mats in your preschool Christmas lesson plans? Grab your free copy by clicking the image below.
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I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
