• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds

  • Home
  • Start Here
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Printables Terms of Use
  • Subscribe!
  • Printables
    • Free Printables
    • Circle Time Printable Packets
    • Winter Printable Packs
    • Spring Printable Packets
    • Themed Printable Packets
    • Fine Motor Printable Packets
    • Dramatic Play Printable Packs
    • Literacy and Story Time Printable Packets
    • Color Recognition Printable Packets
    • Preschool Bilingual English Spanish Printables
    • Classroom Organization Printables
    • Fall Printable Packets
  • Preschool
  • Toddlers
  • Teachers
You are here: Home / Christmas Activities / Easy Gingerbread Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

This post might contain affiliate links. Click here for more information. Thanks for visiting!

Easy Gingerbread Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

November 30, 2016 by Sheryl Cooper

Share
Pin
Tweet

Last Updated on October 26, 2024 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: You will love this easy gingerbread sensory bin for toddlers and preschoolers! Super easy to put together, lots of fun to play with. Win, win!

I was minding my own business, sipping hot coffee while wasting time on Amazon, when I saw them.

Boxes with lids, shaped like gingerbread people.

Without hesitation, I put them in my cart and clicked ORDER.

My mind starting spinning with the possibilities. What about painting them and using them as gift boxes? Or, using them as a 1:1 correspondence activity? They’d be a great color sorting activity if I painted each one a different color. They’d be loved in the block corner, too!

After allowing my mind to come up with lots of possibilities, I knew just how I wanted to use them.

In the sensory bin!

Easy Gingerbread Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Easy Gingerbread Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

So, here are the little darlings that caught my eye on Amazon.

Christmas Gingerbread Sensory Play for Preschoolers

Gingerbread boy shaped paper mache boxes. 

I fell in love immediately. Our preschoolers love any containers with lids. But gingerbread men? I had never seen these before.

I got all giddy, just like when I found the pumpkin jingle bells.

Fellow teachers, please tell me I’m not alone here!

And so then I knew we needed little gingerbread men bendables to put inside the gingerbread containers. (The original little gingerbread men are no longer available but these should work.)

My mind was spinning, I tell you! When my purchases arrived over Thanksgiving break, I was in the kitchen dying rice red and green. While the turkey was defrosting and I needed to get the table cleared and set for guests. Just being real here!

But, I did have some restraint. I did NOT go into my classroom during the break. I actually waited until that Monday morning before the preschoolers arrived.

I got everything set up before the classroom door opened. We read our first gingerbread book before opening centers time.

Christmas Gingerbread Sensory Play for Preschoolers

When it was centers time, this Christmas gingerbread sensory play activity was an immediate hit. First they wanted to fill the gingerbread house with rice.

How to Dye Rice

  • Grab a gallon sized plastic baggie that can be sealed.
  • Pour about a cup of rice inside the bag.
  • Add about a teaspoon of white vinegar.
  • Add as much coloring as desired. (I love using Wilton icing color!)
  • Seal the bag and shake until the rice is coated well.
  • Open the bag and dump the rice onto a paper towel, spreading it out so it’s a very thin layer.
  • Allow to dry thoroughly.

If you want to have different colors of rice, do the above procedure for each color and then, when dry, mix the colors.

Once you have your rice, just add desired accessories to the sensory bin and you are ready to go!

If you want more inspiration, check out these other dyed rice sensory bins we’ve loved:

Rice and Funnels Fine Motor Sensory Play

Rice and Apples Sensory Bin

Star Sensory Table

Spider Sensory Play

Alphabet Flower Sensory Bin

Christmas Gingerbread Sensory Play for Preschoolers

And then they started playing with the little gingerbread figures.

Christmas Gingerbread Sensory Play for Preschoolers

They decided to see if they could fit all 12 in one of the gingerbread man boxes. They counted them as they placed them inside.

Christmas Gingerbread Sensory Play for Preschoolers

They couldn’t all fit inside, so then they placed one gingerbread boy figure inside each cardboard gingerbread boy box. 1:1 correspondence!

Then I noticed the preschoolers lining them up along the edge of the sensory bin. More counting and figuring out that they all weren’t completely the same.

Christmas Gingerbread Sensory Play for Preschoolers

You can see a video of our preschoolers actually playing with this on Instagram.

We will expand on this activity with some gingerbread man cookie baking tomorrow!

Gingerbread Man Books

  • The Gingerbread Man (Easy to Read Folktales)
  • Gingerbread Baby (Jan Brett)
  • How to Catch a Gingerbread Man (Adam Wallace)
  • Ten Tiny Gingerbread Men (Tiger Tales)

 

Easy Gingerbread Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers


Gingerbread Theme Activities

We love starting the Christmas season with a gingerbread theme! There are so many fun activities out there, just perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.

See more here: How to Put Together a Gingerbread Theme

 

Gingerbread Man Story Circle Time Props
Preschool Christmas Learning Activities - 39 Pages of Hands-On Printables!
gingerbread theme printables

FREE CIRCLE TIME PLANNER!

Get your FREE circle time planner as a gift when you subscribe to my free weekly newsletters.

Here is my Privacy Policy

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit
Share
Pin
Tweet

Filed Under: Christmas Activities, preschool, Sensory Bins, Toddlers Tagged With: preschool, sensory, toddlers

About Sheryl Cooper

Sheryl Cooper is the founder of Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds, a website full of activities for toddlers and preschoolers. She has been teaching this age group for over 25 years and loves to share her passion with teachers, parents, grandparents, and anyone with young children in their lives.

Previous Post: « 12 Fun Christmas Dramatic Play Activities
Next Post: Using the Kindness Elves with Preschoolers »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lena Fushman

    December 1, 2016 at 7:49 pm

    Fun activity with so much learning!!!

    • Sheryl Cooper

      December 2, 2016 at 1:16 pm

      Thank you, Lena!

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Looking for something specific?

Categories

Welcome! I'm Sheryl Cooper, teacher of 2 and 3 year olds for over 22 years. Read more about me here!

More Printables!

preschool printables

Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds is a participant in Amazon Associates.

preschool printables

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds Privacy Policy Web Hosting by Servously