December Study: Gingerbread

 


December Study: Gingerbread

The holidays and the month of December are my favorite time of year! Yes, the children are full of sugar and excitement for upcoming events, but nothing matches the joy that comes from watching a kid enjoy all the magic of the season. In order to respect a variety of cultures and backgrounds, we chose to focus on holiday baking and gingerbread during the month of December. 

We set up our dramatic play center to be the Banana Bakery and the students loved it! We used as many real materials as we could, including a variety of cake pans, utensils, and ingredients (sealed TIGHTLY!). They looked at different recipes and pictures of baked goods to find what they wanted to create for their customers. This was a very popular center everyday and they looked forward to make things for people they loved. 

Our sensory table was extra fun as I filled it with a gingerbread cloud dough. Cloud dough is mostly flour and vegetable oil, but we also mixed some cinnamon in for the theme. Students used rolling pins and cookie cutters to 'make' their own cookies. We had tins available as well so they could pack their cookies and gift them to their friends. Making cloud dough is super simple and a fun activity that will keep your child occupied. Here is an easy recipe that you can try at home: https://tinkerlab.com/cloud-dough-exploration/

We tried to incorporate our theme into all the other centers as well. In our block center, we had a small Christmas tree where students could practice and a doll house so they could pretend play all the holiday celebrations. In science, we had gingerbread magnet tiles, a candy STEM building kit, and bells with magnets to explore how they worked together. We also put different holiday themed items with our scale, such as lights, ornaments, bows, and wrapping paper. There were themed materials in writing, literacy, and math centers as well to help use incorporate Gingerbread into our everyday play and learning. 

We wrapped up all the fun with a great spirit week! This included a wonderful pajama day where we watched The Grinch, ate popcorn with M&Ms, and drank hot chocolate. It was a truly special day and we appreciate everyone who donated to make it happen. We hope you all enjoyed your holidays with friends and family and look forward to seeing you all in January! 

We loved decorating our cookies on the FSP day in December

Look at that hat! 

The Bananas were on the nice list this year!


Hot cocoa and cookies are the best combo

Happy Holidays from the Bananas to you and yours!

🍌Miss Susan . Miss Tia . Miss Carolina 🍌




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