Gingerbread Babies

Kindergarten Geography Project

Jan Brett’s story, Gingerbread Baby, is filled with beautiful illustrations and borders that tell a story-within-a-story.  In this adaptation, a little boy named Matti opens the oven too soon and out pop a gingerbread baby!

For our Kindergarten Geography project, the children will “catch” the first of what we hope will be many escaped gingerbread babies.  His escape has taken him across many states.

Our project needs your help!  We need parents to send at least one gingerbread baby and this letter to someone they know from another state.  The gingerbread babies need to be decorated to represent their state and returned along with a postcard/greeting that lists interesting facts about the state.  When we receive these items, we will color in the state that our gingerbread baby came from and learn many interesting geography concepts.

Our goal is to receive mail from as many different states as possible.  I will let you know what states we have received mail from.  Since this is a year-long project, we do not need to receive all of our gingerbread babies at once!  Let me know if your family would like to send a second letter to someone!

Gingerbread Babies might be holding a state flag, or pictures of state crops, flowers, birds, or trees.  They may have a picture of something that represent’s the state’s nick name, famous export, or landmark.  Use other materials to dress them in special clothes along with funny hats and accessories.  Be creative!

Sample ideas for decorating your gingerbread baby

• Kentucky – Use construction paper to dress as a jockey.
• Washington – Glue on evergreen tree, a picture of George Washington (the only state named after a president), apples, rhododendron pictures (state flower).
• Wisconsin – Use Green Bay Packers colors and warm clothes, holding cheese, milk, a picture of the state bird, the robin.
• Louisiana – Dress in Mardi Gras beads, colors, and glitter.  He may be wearing a mask and eating shrimp.
• Oklahoma – He may be wearing a cowboy hat because of the many rodeos and a feather to represent the different Native Americans who live there.  There may be the number 46 on him because Oklahoma was our 46th state.  Cotton on a orange vest represents a crop and the Oklahoma State University colors!