December is definitely one of my favorite months for holiday-themed activities and crafts. Today, I want to share an idea for an easy-to-prepare Montessori-inspired Christmas practical life activity or craft.
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Montessori-Inspired Christmas Gingerbread Man Fine-Motor Activity or Craft
Christmas Gingerbread Man Fine-Motor Tray
After Christmas last year, I found craft-foam gingerbread men and Christmas pom poms on sale at Michaels hobby store. You can find craft-foam gingerbread men and craft-foam gingerbread men on Amazon. Of course, you could easily just draw (or trace from a printable) a gingerbread man on brown craft foam. You could even print out a gingerbread man from a printable onto cardstock if you don’t have craft foam. (Note: You can find free gingerbread man printables, such as the Gingerbread Baby Unit Study from Homeschool Share or Gingerbread Man Printable from Powerful Mothering, in my Montessori-Inspired Christmas Language Activities and Free Christmas Printables post.)
I added a small bowl of craft crystals and a small bowl of pom poms to a large plastic tray from Montessori Services. I used Montessori Services quick sticks for the transfer tool. Tweezers could be used for transferring instead of quick sticks, and the decorations could be buttons or whatever you prefer.
Christmas Gingerbread Man Fine-Motor Activityr or Craft
The child can choose the decorations to transfer to the gingerbread man for a practical life transfer activity. If you’d like to make a lacing activity as well, simply punch holes around the edge of the gingerbread man with a hole puncher and add a yarn lace. To make the activity into a craft, just add a bottle of glue to the tray!
An older child could use a variation of the tray by drawing and designing a gingerbread man or tracing and cutting out a gingerbread man before designing a pattern on it. Older children could also sew two gingerbread men together with stuffing to make a toy for a younger child. When my kids were growing up, I often had variations of activities available according to age and ability level.
More Gingerbread Resources
Free Gingerbread Printables and Activities for a Montessori-Inspired Gingerbread Unit
You’ll find lots of fun, free gingerbread printables and Montessori-inspired gingerbread activities here.
There are a number of free gingerbread printables and activities in my Montessori-Inspired Christmas Language Activities and Free Christmas Printables.
Montessori-Inspired Gingerbread Pack for DIY Cards and Counters, Number or Letter Matching, Number or Letter Basket, Bead Bar Work, Hands-on Math Operations, Number or Letter Salt/Sand Writing Tray, Letter Tracing, DIY Movable Alphabet, and Creative Writing (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my newsletter to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber).
Do you bake gingerbread men at your house, or do you prepare gingerbread man activities? 🙂
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Excellent post Deb, the decoration is marvelous. And you are a great motivator. Thanks a lot for sharing, have a great day.
Thanks for your kind comment, Barbara! I really appreciate it. 🙂
We have also done a gingerbread craft this week – I never thought about all those skills we were using though.
Thanks for your comment. It is amazing to think about all the skills that are developed with a simple activity, isn’t it?! 🙂
Great idea! Thanks for sharing at TGIF!
Thanks, Debbie! I love gingerbread men activities … and Christmas activities in general. 🙂
Oh Deb. The way you set up your activities is so inviting. I seriously want to sit right down at that tray, and use those tweezers to create my own gingerbread man!
Thanks for your sweet comment, Jackie! I love the way you set up your activities, too … and your photos are awesome. 🙂
LOVE this! Can I feature this activity on the West Valley Moms Blog? I would use one photo and link back directly to this post 🙂