Oh no, what a mess! Reception children at The Olive Tree Primary School in Bolton, Greater Manchester returned to their class after assembly to find it ransacked. Chairs were tipped upside down, there was flour all over the carpet, and home corner equipment including rolling pins, spoons and aprons were strewn around.
Children had lots of questions, including who had created such chaos. A child suggested they could check the school security cameras, so they went to the office to ask for CCTV footage. They were surprised when they saw video evidence of a visit from the Gingerbread Man and his friends.
the setting's ethos
The Olive Tree has an Islamic ethos, which is underpinned by six core values: peace, trust, fairness, equality, respect and compassion. Although these are Islamic values, it is recognised that they are universally applicable to people from any faith or no faith, and the school welcomes children from all backgrounds.
The school has a reputation for using technology to enhance children's learning and is recognised as an Apple Distinguished School. All children have personal iPads, which are funded by the school, and teachers are committed to providing a technology-rich environment to support children's learning goals. ‘Technology is now everywhere and it's our job as educators to ensure that children are using it safely,’ says EYFS phase leader Manisha Patel. ‘We do a lot of teaching around how children can be safe online and around responsible use of technology to enhance their learning.’
Patel used her knowledge of different apps to bring alive children's imaginations and learning as they explored the story of the Gingerbread Man and used it to cover many areas of the curriculum.
what they did
‘We decided to focus on the Gingerbread Man story because there are so many cross-curricular links in it – from literacy to geography and science,’ says Patel. ‘The hook of the Gingerbread Man messing up the classroom got the children engaged right away. We used a simple app to create a realistic video.’
After tracking down the footage, the surprised children decided to hunt around the school to find the naughty visitors. Despite a thorough search, they could not find them so they decided to write a letter to the head teacher asking him to look out for them and teach them about tidying up.
The following day, Patel shared the story of The Gingerbread Man with the class and they discussed how he is a character who likes to run and is often running away from people. She shared the learning with parents and encouraged them to discuss the happenings with their children.
‘Prior to this, I'd put a post on social media asking for educators to send us a postcard from where they live. I requested that they tell us what their town or country is like and sign it from the Gingerbread Man,’ explains Patel. ‘We had loads of responses, the first of which arrived in the post soon after viewing the video footage. We looked at the postcard, which was from Dublin, and it helped the children form the idea that maybe the Gingerbread Man had gone away from our school and was running elsewhere.’
Some of the postcards sent by 'The Gingerbread Man'
Patel showed the children a large world map and they were interested to locate Dublin. Over the next few days, postcards continued to arrive from a wide variety of places, some local to them and more from abroad.
After some days, the children were amazed to receive a video message directly from the Gingerbread Man – generated by the Puppet Pals app – confirming that, yes, he had been travelling around the world. Sadly he had lost his friends and wondered whether the children could bake him some more, inspiring them to research a recipe and do some baking. This led them to investigating how materials, such as eggs and butter, change when they are heated.
extension activities
After baking the gingerbread men, the children wanted to write the recipe out for the Gingerbread Man so that he would not have the same problem again.- Children decorated the gingerbread men and noted how they all looked different. This led to conversations around diversity.
- Children used a story map to orally rehearse The Gingerbread Man story and order the main events.
- Patel challenged the children to design how the gingerbread friends would get safely across the rivers and seas. In small teams, they designed boats and planned the materials they would use to make them. They then built and tried floating their boats in a large tray.
- Author Jane Newberry saw the children's investigations on social media and sent them a copy of her book, Big Green Crocodile. This led them to discuss how books are written and inspired them to write their own gingerbread man stories and make them into books.
what they gained
‘A lot of our children have English as an additional language but have only ever experienced our local town,’ says Patel. ‘We are still receiving postcards from around the world and the children are getting very curious about other countries and learning that the world is bigger than just Bolton.
‘It has helped the children to think about the world and where they belong in it.’
She adds that the explorations supported children's developing literacy and digital literacy while engaging them in teamwork and critical thinking.
Book Corner
The Gingerbread Man by Gail Yerrill and Louise Martin
A vibrant retelling of the classic, funny folk tale of The Gingerbread Man.
The Gingerbread Man 2: What Happened Later? by Stephen Dixon
This story follows the fox on his journey back to the bakery with his newfound desire to bake. Find out whether there’s a happier ending...
The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst
A lonely old woman and man decide to bake a girl this time, but she runs off like her brother did.
Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett
Confident and excited to make new friends,the Gingerbread Baby happens upon a bakery…
The Runaway Rice Cake by Ying Chang Compestine and Tungwai Chau
It’s Chinese New Year and the Chang Family has only enough riceflour to make one rice cake. But it comes to life and escapes.
Martha Maps It Out by Leigh Hodgkinson Martha loves drawing maps. This entertaining book is full of immersive maps crammed with excitement about the world.
We All Belong: A Children’s Book About Diversity, Race and Empathy by Nathalie Goss and Alex Goss A beautiful rhyming picture book that recognises and celebrates diversity. The book aims to give children a safe space to see themselves and others.
Further information
- FxGuru: https://www.fxguruapp.com
- Puppet Pals: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/puppet-pals/id342076546
