Christmas Color Activities for Preschoolers
As the holiday season approaches, it’s the perfect time to explore festive color activities for preschoolers. One of our top best Christmas activities for preschoolers is the gingerbread man color sorting printable, an engaging tool for both parents and teachers. This activity not only adds seasonal fun to preschool lesson plans but also supports color recognition, fine motor skills, and visual differentiation.
Bring extra cheer to your classroom with these interactive and educational Christmas color activities that young learners are sure to enjoy!
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.
This color sorting gingerbread man printable is designed to be interactive and stimulating, capturing the attention of your little ones while subtly teaching them about colors making a nod to the story of the Gingerbread Man.
If you’re on the hunt for gingerbread-themed preschool activities for your home or classroom, you’ve found an excellent resource.
This activity not only teaches colors, matching, and sorting, but it also helps develop fine motor skills. It’s a great fit for toddlers who are at the stage of learning colors and color matching. Both toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy engaging with these gingerbread sorting mats.
It’s easy to include in your holiday lineup, whether you’re a parent looking for a festive home activity or an educator planning your December curriculum.
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!
- Cottage Door Press (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 12 Pages – 12/13/2023 (Publication Date) – Cottage Door Press (Publisher)
- Michelle Rhodes-Conway (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 12 Pages – 06/19/2018 (Publication Date) – Cottage Door Press (Publisher)
- Carle, Eric (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 16 Pages – 05/30/2023 (Publication Date) – World of Eric Carle (Publisher)
- Hardcover Book
- Dr. Seuss (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Hardcover Book
- Llenas, Anna (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Rockridge Press (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 56 Pages – 06/15/2021 (Publication Date) – Callisto Kids (Publisher)
Christmas Theme Color Activities
These free printable gingerbread man 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?
Try out these other Christmas Number Identification and Counting Activities, too!
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 for Preschool
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 sooo 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 Man 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 Man 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.
- Hardcover Book
- Gail Yerrill (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Edwards, Nicola (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 18 Pages – 10/26/2021 (Publication Date) – Silver Dolphin Books (Publisher)
- Hardcover Book
- Wallace, Adam (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Schmidt, Karen (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 31 Pages – 05/15/1985 (Publication Date) – Scholastic Inc (Publisher)
- Brett, Jan (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 09/22/2003 (Publication Date) – G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers (Publisher)
- Maccarone, Grace (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 14 Pages – 10/05/2010 (Publication Date) – Little Simon (Publisher)
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.
- White icing decorating body with colored buttons
- Sparkly green and red feet
- Approximately 6 inches tall
- Air-Powered Fun: These poppers use air power to shoot foam balls up to an impressive 20 feet, adding…
- Safe and Soft: Made of soft foam, these popper toys are safe for indoor play and won’t cause any…
- Target Practice: Set up targets and practice your aim with these playful ball poppers. It’s a great…
- GINGERBREAD MAN PLUSHIE: Adorably cute 9” tall plush gingerbread man stuffed animal. He has a…
- Comfortable Fabric：Our material quality is very safe, made of high-end osmanthus velvet,…
- Bring You Much Fun: You can put the gingerbread man plush in your car, your sofa and your bed, when…
- 48 Mini Vinyl Gingerbread Men
- Great for Holiday Classrooms, Churches, Schools etc.
- Lots of little Gingerbread Men for holiday craft projects too!
- Our teethers are simply perfect for your loved little ones. They are fun, modern, functional, easy…
- Our baby teething toys are made of 100 percent BPA free food grade silicone with fun textures and…
- Size of Gingerbread Man teether is 3.5 inch x 3.15 inch . Attractive cute design can inspire the…
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.
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.
