Gingerbread Man Math

Gingerbread men and gingerbread houses enjoy special popularity around the holidays, but many of these gingerbread activities are timeless and complement literature titles that teachers use at the beginning of school or after the holidays. It's very easy to incorporate mathematics into a study of gingerbread men, and students will enjoy the data collection activities and games while learning math skills and deepening their understanding of important mathematical concepts.

Look through these math activities and add some to your repertoire. Consider broadening the gingerbread math to include measurement, games and problem solving this year.

Check out Mathwire's Gingerbread Man Math collection, part of Mathwire's themed math activities collection.

Math-Literature Connection: Ladybugs

The Grouchy Ladybug
by Eric Carle

• Download Vicki Blackwell's Grouchy Ladybug clock.
• See NCTM Illuminations lesson plan for this book which develops students understanding of time based on activities in their days.
• View an entire ladybug unit from Homeschool Share.

 Ladybug on the Move
by Richard Fowler

• See NCTM Illumination's Ladybug Lengths unit that helps students develop the concept of measurement through the use of nonstandard units including a ladybug tape that may be downloaded from the site.
• Let students play with the Hiding Ladybug applet to practice measurement skills.
• Ladybug Leaf is another online version of this applet game that requires students to estimate distances in a Logo-like environment. 

Lots of Ladybugs
by Michael Dahl


This book was designed to provide practice in counting by fives, offering yet another way to include math in a ladybug unit.  Each page adds five more spots to count until you reach 50.

• Download Ladybug Counting worksheets. 

NOTE:  The worksheet is designed as a companion to the Lots of Ladybugs book.  

• Worksheet 1 has all numbers in a traceable font.
• Worksheet 2 has some missing numbers.  Printed numbers are in traceable font. 

 Ladybug Scramble

The ladybug cards are all scrambled and students must put them in the correct order.  This deck is designed to be printed on card stock, cut apart and stored in plastic bags for use in a math center.

• Download Ladybug Scramble cards in color.
• Download Ladybug Scramble cards in black-white. 

Differentiation:  This activity is easily differentiated by varying the number of cards given to students to accommodate the varied learning levels in the class.  Consider creating A, B, C sets in baggies that contain different number of cards.  Students may move to the harder level once they have mastered the first set.