Gingerbread themed learning activities for preschoolers, including how to make healthy gluten free gingerbread men.

This week, we read The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth. It is a nicely illustrated version of the classic tale, and we read it because it was this week’s Virtual Book Club pick. Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett and Gingerbread Mouse by Katy Bratun are two fun alternatives for this theme.
We had to move our family to a gluten free diet about a year and a half ago, and the kids miss making gingerbread men and gingerbread houses. Eventually, I will find a decent gluten-free gingerbread recipe. Please let me know if you happen to have one? In the meantime, the kids enjoyed decorating and eating these very healthy gluten free gingerbread men!
DIY Healthy Gluten Free Gingerbread Men
What You'll Find on This Page
Making healthy gluten free gingerbread men is easy!
Materials:
- Corn tortillas. We usually buy these at Costco, because I am lazy. You can make them easily at home if you have masa harina and hot water. We recommend an electric kettle and a tortilla press, but you can also flatten your tortillas between two plates, or roll them out by hand.
- Gingerbread man cookie cutter.
- Raisins
- Sunflower seeds
- Any other food items you would like to use to decorate. String cheese would have been fun, but we didn’t have any on hand.
Directions:
Place your tortilla on a plate or cutting board. A cutting board works better, in our experience, even though the plate apparently made it into my photo. Press down until you have cut out your gingerbread man shape.

Take your gingerbread man and decorating supplies to the table.

Get to work decorating! We just placed the decorations on our men and then the kids picked them off to eat them. If you want the decorations to stick, cream cheese should work well.

My kids used the scraps from their tortillas to add onto their gingerbread men. This is seven-year-old Lily’s creation – she added shoes, some ground, and a sandwich for her gingerbread man.

Enjoy eating your gluten free gingerbread man!
More Gingerbread Themed Learning Fun for Kids
As always, my co-hosts have some great educational activities to go along with this week’s book, The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth. These activities will also work with Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett and Gingerbread Mouse by Katy Bratun.
Gingerbread THEMED Literacy ACTIVITIES
- Gingerbread Name Activity from Books and Giggles
NUMBER LEARNING Gingerbread THEMED ACTIVITIES
- Counting with Gingerbread Men from Powerful Mothering
- Build a Gingerbread Boy Number Game from Toddler Approved
- Gingerbread Man Number Line Game from Adventures of Adam
Gingerbread COOKING ACTIVITIES
- Yummy ABC Gingerbread Man Cookies from Growing Book by Book
- Yummy Honey Gingerbread House Cookies Decorating from Preschool Powol Packets
- Tips and Tricks for Decorating Gingerbread Houses with Kids from Mama Smiles
- Make a Gingerbread House from Scratch! from Mama Smiles
Movement Gingerbread ACTIVITIES
- Gingerbread Scavenger Hunt with Free Printables from Sunny Day Family
Learning Colors with Gingerbread
- Gingerbread Color Patterns from My Storytime Corner
PRE-WRITING Gingerbread THEMED ACTIVITIES
- Gingerbread Man Lacing and Craft from To Be a Kid Again
- How to Sew a Gingerbread Ornament with Your Child from The Educators’ Spin On It
- Gingerbread Kids from Mama Smiles
- Gingerbread Man Craft from Mama Smiles
THE 2016-17 VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB FOR KIDS
Click on the image above to see all of the themes, books, and activities for this year’s 2016-17 Virtual Book Club for Kids! I am updating the page as new posts go live.
Do you have a fun gingerbread themed learning activity we should try? Let me know in the comments. You can also share photos on my Facebook page, or tag me on Instagram.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Oh, that’s clever! I have not attempted GF gingerbread men. I feel like, with all GF recipes, there’s a lot of trial and error until you find the one you like. Let me know if you find one!
Very cute! I’m sure they taste just as delicious as gingerbread men with gluten!
Healthy and lazy is a great combination. I can see your kids had so much fun with that.
These little guys look very sweet.
Amalia
xo
<3 thank you Amalia!
This is an easy way out for those of us who don’t want to bake. And healthy too!
Healthy and lazy – LOVE when I find that combination :)
What a fun activity! I would love to make my own tortillas.
They really are easy, especially if you get a tortilla press. They taste much better than the Costco ones (which are still pretty good).