Christmastime is full of wonder and fun, especially when it comes to learning for toddlers and preschoolers. These gingerbread themed color sorting activities are a great to teach colors to toddlers and preschoolers. They can easily be added to your Christmas theme printable activities.
Gingerbread Color Sorting Mats
For many of us, when we start to think of the holiday season, it’s not visions of sugarplums that dance through out heads. (I’m not even certain what sugarplums are. I mean, in my nearly 40 years, I’ve never even had one).
Rather, we might see visions of gingerbread men dancing thorough our heads. Gingerbread theme preschool activities can be a fun learning theme in addition to or in lieu of Christmas activities.
And this printable features not only preschool gingerbread activities also double as color activities for preschoolers. Be sure to read all the different ways to use this cute (and colorful) gingerbread printable in your lesson plans this Christmas.
If you are looking for fun holiday activities for your classroom, or even for home, this is an awesome resources for planning your preschool gingerbread theme. As with all my other activities, this color activity is designed for preschoolers, but also very appropriate for toddlers, too.
But don’t be fooled, even my kindergartener still enjoys color sorting activities like this one.
When to Teach Colors in Preschool
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. 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 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.
Free Preschool Color Activities – Gingerbread Themed!
These free printable gingerbread color sorting mats are a wonderful way to teach colors to preschoolers this Christmas season. The printable features six colorful gingerbread men in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. They are a great way to teach color sorting to toddlers and preschoolers in the home or classroom.
Materials
- free gingerbread color sorting mats
- manipulatives in rainbow colors
- dry erase pouch (optional)
- dry erase markers (optional)
How to Teach Colors Using Gingerbread Color Sorting Mats
Using the gingerbread color sorting mats to teach colors to 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. 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.
More Ways to Use These Color Sorting Mats
You can easily add these gingerbread color sorting mats to your preschool math centers, but they’re not limited to just that. Try some of these other ways of using this exact printable.
- 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.
Don’t Forget Gingerbread Picture Books!
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.
Get your Free Gingerbread Color Mats
Think you need these free color sorting mats in your preschool Christmas lesson plans? Grab your free copy by clicking the image below.
More Free Christmas Printables for Preschoolers
Here are some more free Christmas printables for you! Just click the image and download each one from the post.
Get More Printables to Teach Colors!
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.
