FREE Gingerbread Sight Words Activity
Let’s bake up a fun gingerbread sight words activity! This play dough center has become a favorite during the Christmas season with our little learners. The prep part of this center is just as fun as the activity itself because it begins with making your own gingerbread play dough. Of course, you can always make the play dough in advance on your own, but if time permits, allowing the students to be part of it adds another level of excitement to the whole process. Making the dough with your students also leaves the classroom smelling like fresh baked cookies, which is a huge bonus!
Setting Up the Play Dough Center
The first thing you will need to do is make the gingerbread play dough and if preparing it ahead of time, store it in either zipped plastic bags or an airtight container until your next center time. We have included a simple recipe for you! In addition to the play dough, you will need the following materials:
- laminator
- alphabet stamps
- dry erase markers
- scissors
- editable word cards
- cooking/baking sheet (optional)
You can customize the editable word list by typing in any sight words, spelling words or vocabulary that your students are currently learning. This also is a great opportunity to review words that they have been taught in the past.
Getting Started with Gingerbread Sight Words
After you have customized your word list, print and laminate the word cards. Cut them out and place them in your literacy center. Next, laminate the word mat and place it near the word cards. If you are able to, place all of the above on a cookie/baking sheet. This makes for such an adorable display and will motivate your students to really “cook up” some sight word fun! We like to get our cookie sheets from the local dollar store. Make sure that you have the dough, dry erase markers and stamps all within easy reach. Once this is set up, the center basically will run itself!
How to Use the Gingerbread Sight Words Center
This gingerbread sight words activity is very simple for your students to use. First, they will pick a word card and read it. Then, they will write the word using the dry erase marker. That way, if they make a mistake they can simply wipe it away and try again. The last step is for them to roll out some dough and place it on the mat. They will use the stamps to press them into the dough and build the word. These are the stamps we used, but you can also use magnetic letters as an alternative. Students will repeat these steps with the other cards until their time at the center is up.
Busy Teacher Tip
We want to add that if you are very short on ingredients or time and can’t make the dough, there is a quick solution: use brown or tan colored store bought play dough. You can even sprinkle in some cinnamon to give it the fresh baked cookie smell! Download your copy of our Gingerbread Sight Word Center by clicking on the button below. Enjoy!
Keep the holiday fun going by checking out our Gingerbread Man Activities and Word Work Play Dough Mats for the Entire Year!
