Gingerbread Man Books and Poems

The Gingerbread Man is a wonderful fairy tale to read during this time if the year.  There are so many different versions and fractured fairy tale varieties.  Below are some that I have found:

The Gingerbread Man

The Gingerbread Man (Easy-to-Read Folktales)

Musubi Man: Hawaii's Gingerbread Man

The Library Gingerbread Man

Gingerbread Man Superhero!

The Gingerbread Man

The Gingerbread Man (Flip-up Fairy Tales)

Three Pigs and a Gingerbread Man (Start Reading: Fairytale Jumbles)

The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School

Touch and Feel Fairy Tales: The Gingerbread Man (Ladybird Tales)

Gingerbread Baby

Gingerbread Friends

The Matzah Man: A Passover Story

The Gingerbread Pirates

The Gingerbread Cowboy

The Gingerbread Girl

The Gingerbread Kid Goes to School (All Aboard Reading)

The Jalapeno Man.

There are more versions of The Gingerbread Man that I could possibly list, but this can get you started.  This is a unit I love to do in the winter or near the holidays. 

Poems and Songs
I have used a variety of poems and songs throughout the years.  Many are written by various teachers and passed around amongst many.

Oh, Where, Oh, Where Id My Gingerbread Man?

Oh where, oh where is my Gingerbread Man?
Oh where, oh where can he be?
He popped out of the oven and ran out the door.
Oh where, oh where can he be?

Extension: Read the poem aloud several times.  Have the children close their eyes and read it again.  Allow the children to open their eyes and use crayons and map pencils to illustrate the mental image they had during the reading. 

Have children share their drawings in pairs.

Four Gingerbread Men
Four gingerbread men sat on a tray.
The first one said, “Let’s run away!”
The second one said, “Where will we run?”
The third one said, “We’ll have some fun!”
The fourth one said, “We’ll be eaten if we stay.”
So the gingerbread men all ran away!

Extension:  Go over ordinal numbers.  Review quotation marks and punctuation.  Practice reading each sentence using voice inflection that is appropriate for the punctuation used.  Create gingerbread man puppets and act out the poem.

I'm The Gingerbread Man

I'm the Gingerbread Man and I'm here to say,
You can't catch me, no not today.
I've run away from a big brown horse,
And I can run from you of course, of course.
I took a ride on the sly fox's back.
He ate me up for a tasty snack. Yum! Yum!

Extension:Read the poem aloud several times. Have the children close their eyes and read it again. Allow the children to open their eyes and use crayons and map pencils to illustrate the mental image they had during the reading.

Underline rhyming pairs from the poem.  Circle sight words.

The Gingerbread Rap
A-B-CDE
The Gingerbread Man is running from me.
F-G-HIJ
The Gingerbread Man is running away.
K-L-MNO
I said stop. He said, “NO!”
P-Q-RST
Across the river’s where he wants to be.
U-V-WXY
I can’t catch him even if I try
Z-Z-ZZZ
The Gingerbread Man is running from me.

Extension:  Go over rhyming pairs.  Discuss the rhythm and beat of the poem.  Clap out the beat.  Go over each line of the poem and discuss meaning.  Ask the question:  Why is the Gingerbread Man running from everyone?  Do you think he should have been running away?  Why or why not?

The House
( tune: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Gingerbread Baby come and see
The house I made for you from me.
It is sweet and colored bright,
It will keep you safe at night.
Gingerbread Baby come and see
The house I made for you from me.

Extension: Compare poem to the story, Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.  Go over rhyming pairs.  Draw mental image.  Highlight sight words.  Read, write, and spell each word.  Discuss meaning of poem.  Ask the question:  Why is the house sweet and bright?  How will the house keep the Gingerbread Baby safe?  Did the person speaking really make the house for both the Gingerbread Baby and himself?  Why do you think that?

The Story of the Gingerbread Man

Once there was a gingerbread man,
Baking in a gingerbread pan.
Raisin eyes and a cherry nose,
Trimmed right down to his fingers and toes.
A gingerbread man in a gingerbread pan!

Here's the old woman who made him so sweet,
A treat for her and her husband to eat,
She made him with flour and sugar and eggs,
She gave him a face and two arms and two legs.
A gingerbread man in a gingerbread pan!

Now open the oven to see if he's done,
This gingerbread man, he knows how to run.
Out of the oven and onto the floor,
Now run away out the kitchen door.
The gingerbread man, he's out of the pan!

Now chase him old woman, now chase him old man
Chase him, yes!  Chase him as fast as you can!
Through the garden and out the gate,
Catch him right now, before it's too late.
The gingerbread man, he's out of the pan!

Along came a cow who wanted a treat
And the gingerbread man, he looked good to eat
Run, run, as fast as you can
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man
I'm the gingerbread man and I'm out of the pan!

Along came a horse who wanted a snack
But the gingerbread man, he never looked back
Run, run, as fast as you can
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man
I'm the gingerbread man and I'm out of the pan!

Along came a farmer who wanted a treat
And the gingerbread man, he looked good to eat
Run, run, as fast as you can
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man
I'm the gingerbread man and I'm out of the pan!

Along came a dog who wanted a snack
But the gingerbread man, he never looked back
Run, run, as fast as you can
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man
I'm the gingerbread man and I'm out of the pan!

Along came a hog who wanted a treat
And the gingerbread man, he looked good to eat
Run, run, as fast as you can
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man
I'm the gingerbread man and I'm out of the pan!

Along came a fox who wanted a treat,
And this gingerbread man, he looked good to eat.
Jump on my back, my gingerbread pet,
And we'll cross the river, so you won't get wet
Mr. Gingerbread man, who's out of the pan!

There was no place to go, there was no place to run
And a ride on the river could be lots of fun!
So off with the fox did Gingerbread go
And what happened next, you already know
To the gingerbread man, who's out of the pan!

That sly old fox had a de-lic-ious treat
And the old man and woman had nothing to eat
Not a bite was left for the cow or the dog,
The horse or the farmer or hungry old hog
There's no gingerbread man in or out of the pan!

So let us go home and get out the pan
And we'll make ourselves a new gingerbread man!
And when he is eaten, we'll make us some more
But this time we'll be certain to lock the back door!
A new gingerbread man, in a gingerbread pan!

Extension: This is a good version of The Gingerbread Man to use for retelling.  Look online for coloring pages for each of the characters of the story.  Color, cut, and glue the characters to felt.  Use characters and story props with a felt board to retell the story.  Discuss important phrases that should be repeated and using the character names during the retelling.

I you found some books or poems that you can use with your unit.  The children really love the Gingerbread Man and all the naughtiness he causes.  The variety of books that are available to read enhances the learning during this unit even further.

Happy Reading!