With Christmas just around the corner, it’s been fun brainstorming and prepping some hands-on holiday-themed learning activities like these free Gingerbread Addition Mats. Use them with real gumdrops (yum!) or even use play dough, unifix cubes, or fun Christmas erasers as counters. Any way that you choose to play, this is a great activity for building addition skills within 10!
*Pair with our Gingerbread Centers & Activities for Pre-K & Kindergarten!
Gingerbread Addition Mats
These gingerbread addition mats would be the perfect addition to your math centers and preparation for this activity is so simple. Your students will love it!
To get these gingerbread mats ready, simply print them out on cardstock and laminate them. This way kids can write with a dry erase marker, erase, and play again.
How to Play
I decided to give my students real gumdrops to play with. I recommend giving each one their own cup of gumdrops so when they are all done they can eat them!
Or, you can have a designated bowl of gumdrops NOT for eating. I find that most kids will respect the “no eating” rule because they don’t want to lose the privilege of playing with the math mats.
RELATED RESOURCE: Kindergarten Clothespin Clip Cards for December
We used two different color gumdrops to build the equations. This provides a good visual that two separate sets are being combined to form a new total.
If we had 3+2. We put out 3 green gumdrops and 2 red gumdrops.
How many gumdrops in all? We have 5! So we wrote 5 in the box with our dry erase marker.
We then cleared off our math mat and grabbed another to solve!
These addition mats are sure to add tons of fun into your math lessons this holiday season!
Grab Your FREE Copy
Ready to start adding gumdrops? Get your free set of Gingerbread Addition Mats by clicking the large, yellow download button at the very bottom of the post!
More Gingerbread Fun
Be sure to check out these 20 awesome gingerbread activities for kids from some of my favorite kid bloggers too!
Gingerbread Math – Making Five // Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station
Gingerbread Pattern Cards // The STEM Laboratory
Science Christmas Ornaments: Long Lasting Gingerbread Ornaments // Schooling a Monkey
Initial Sound Gingerbread Puzzles // A Dab of Glue Will Do
Decorate a Gingerbread Man Art Activity // Mom Inspired Life
Gingerbread Addition Mats // The Kindergarten Connection
Gingerbread Coverall Games // Recipe for Teaching
Gingerbread Man Counting Cards // Sara J Creations
Gingerbread Pre-Writing Strips // The Kindergarten Connection
Gingerbread Clip Cards // Fun With Mama
Gingerbread 2D Shape Match and Count // Liz’s Early Learning Spot
Gingerbread Play Dough // Play and Learn Everyday
Gingerbread House Building STEM // Science Kiddo
Gingerbread Ten Frame Counting Mats // Modern Preschool
Gingerbread Man Busy Box // Teach Me Mommy
Gingerbread Man Sight Word Game // Playdough to Plato
Gingerbread Man Stamping // Simple Play Ideas
Gingerbread Number Line Addition to 12 // Fairy Poppins
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