The Gingerbread Man is a folktale told for well over a hundred years. Its oldest known printing is "The Gingerbread Boy", in an American children’s magazine, St. Nicholas, in 1875. It is told many ways: who he runs from and what he shouts change, but he always gets away until he meets a fox at the end. This retelling, in our own words, has a pig, a horse and a fox at the river.
Seven pages. Pages 1 and 2 are the story in two parts to read aloud together: page 1 has four questions and page 2 has three. Page 3 has five picture cards to cut out and glue in order. Page 4 asks children to circle the three animals he met, and page 5 is a story map to draw and write: beginning, middle and end. Page 6 has the line he says each time to trace and write, and page 7 asks what would happen if he got away.
Read the story aloud twice: the second time, let the class shout the Gingerbread Man’s line. Act it out with children as the old woman, the pig, the horse and the fox. Compare it with another version of the story and talk about what changes.
Read the story together and bake gingerbread if you can. Ask your child to tell it back to you, in order, before doing the cards.
The Gingerbread Man folktale retold in two parts to read along, with questions and story pages. Children answer questions, put picture cards in order, find the animals he met, map the story, trace the line he says each time and write a new ending.
Tell us what to make next, or build your own with a worksheet maker.
This worksheet is free to download, print, copy, and hand out in your classroom or at home. You do not need to create an account, and there are no watermarks on the PDF.
