Favorite Gingerbread Books for Kindergarten

Years ago I began to include a Gingerbread Man unit during the month of December to be more inclusive of my students who do not celebrate Christmas. This blog post is all about my favorite gingerbread books for Kindergarten teachers. These books are great December read alouds!

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The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Gadone

This is the classic story of the gingerbread man. In the original story, an old couple who do not have any children of their own. So the old woman bakes a gingerbread boy. But when he pops out of the oven, he runs away. Along the way, all different people and animals try to catch him. Until he comes to the river and a clever fox. The fox is able to outsmart the gingerbread boy and eats him.

You can use this story to practice retelling and predicting what will happen next.

The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst

This is a great story about the Gingerbread Girl and how she cleverly escapes harm. The gingerbread girl follows a very similar path to the Gingerbread Boy with one big exception; she is able to “outfox” the fox! It's fun to read and compare the Gingerbread Girl to the Gingerbread Boy.

This story is great for comparing texts and retelling practice. It's also filled with fun, repeating rhymes. There is another fun book called Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers if you are interested in extending your book study.

Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett

Who doesn't love a Jan Bret book? The illustrations are beautiful and the stories are always entertaining. The Gingerbread Friends is a fun story about a little gingerbread cookie who comes to life and wants a friend. He goes out on a grand adventure to search for friends with no success. Eventually, he finds himself back at home and discovers a big surprise!

This book is great to use to compare to the original gingerbread boy story and it's filled with repeating rhymes and songs kids will love.

I love that there are more books in this series, so you can read more about the silly antics the Gingerbread Baby finds himself in. Gingerbread Baby and Gingerbread Christmas are more books in the series.

The Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup

Disclaimer: This book does include Santa and a Christmas theme, so steer clear if you are avoiding Christmas altogether. This story is told through the eyes of the gingerbread pirates. It's fun to experience the world through their perspective and have students make connections.

Jim and his mom make gingerbread cookies on Christmas Eve. That evening they come to life and Captain Cookie sets off to find his pirate crew and avoid Santa who is known to eat gingerbread men. It's an engaging story with awesome illustrations that really pull kids in.

More Gingerbread Ideas and Activities for Kindergarten

The gingerbread man unit was always one of my favorite sets of kindergarten read alouds. But beyond the books, there are many fun ways to incorporate the gingerbread theme across all subjects. You can use gingerbread scented playdough (here's a great recipe) in your centers, do a simple gingerbread man craft and writing activity (like this one), or even do a disguise a gingerbread man project (read more here). There are lots of possibilities!