Preschoolers Search for Missing Gingerbread Man

Last week, CAL Elementary preschool teacher Heather Koenen and her young students went on a special mission. 

After reading six different versions of the classic gingerbread man story to her class, she helped them bake one in their classroom. The only problem: he wasn’t in the oven when they went to check on him! In fact, he’d been replaced by a clue. Koenen said the clue led them to the gym, where they found another clue, which took them to another area, and so on and so forth. All of the clues finally led them back to Mrs. Osborn’s room, where they finally found the gingerbread man, which they took back to her room and ate. 

“It felt so very real to them,” she said. “They squealed in the hall at every clue and surprise and could not believe he wasn't in the oven.”

The day after the hunt for the gingerbread man the preschoolers made their own smaller gingerbread men. Luckily, they didn't run away that time.

“Preschool should be fun — all grades should be fun,” she said. “And at CAL, I feel we do a pretty good job of mixing fun and ‘work’ and it shows in testing and atmosphere.” 

Koenen said she does this activity with her preschoolers every year. While reading the different versions of the classic tale, they talk about how to identify characters, settings, and comparing and contrasting. 

Koenen said that while growing up, she had a teacher who did the gingerbread activity.

“It was memorable for me so when I started teaching I knew I wanted to make my students have fun memories as well,” she said. “The older students I taught remember it and make comments when seeing me after school. They tell me they remembered how fun it was.”

Koenen, who started teaching in January of 2018, lives on an acreage north of Latimer, with her husband and their 8-year-old son.