Catch Me If You Can: The Gingerbread Man Story

I’m the Gingerbread Man. Catch me if you can! This is a phrase from a popular children’s fairytale or story.

Here are some cool facts about the story and actual Gingerbread Man Cookies!

  • The Original Gingerbread Man story is part of what they collectively call the fleeing pancake stories that are popular in Europe, Germany, and Norway.
  • The general plot is the same: A baked good pops out of the oven and takes off, evading a series of characters chasing it.
  • The American Variation of this story was written in May of 1875.
  • Gingerbread itself has roots back to 1500 BC in Ancient Egypt
  • Gingerbread cookies date back to the 16th century.
  • Queen Elizabeth I of England surprised some of her guests with gingerbread biscuits (British for cookies) that looked like them
Gingerbread cookies

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

 Click the Gingerbread Man for a simple cookie recipe.

Gingerbread cookie recipe

Gingerbread Ornament Craft

  • Brown Card Stock or Construction Paper
  • 3 pom poms
  • 1 Pair Googly Eyes
  • White Paint or Paint Marker
  • Ribbon for a Hanger
  • Glue
  • Scissors
Gingerbread Ornament Craft

Step 1: Cut out the template (Template PDF should go here)

Step 2: Put the template on the brown paper and then trace it

Put the template on the brown paper and then trace it

Step 3: Cut out the Gingerbread Man

Step 4: Draw on the icing lines

Draw on the icing lines

Step 5: Glue on the ribbon hanger at the top

Glue on the ribbon hanger at the top

Step 6: Glue on the eyes and the pom pom buttons

Glue on the eyes and the pom pom buttons

Check out These Books from Our Catalog

How to Catch a Gingerbread Man by Adam Wallace

During story time the Gingerbread man comes alive, so the children make haste and quickly give chase but he runs too fast and is helped from a storybook cast.

The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth

The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth

A freshly baked gingerbread man escapes when he is taken out of the oven and eludes a number of pursuers until he meets a clever fox.

The Library Gingerbread Man by Dotti Enderle

The Library Gingerbread Man by Dotti Enderle

The exasperating Gingerbread Man, famous for leading a host of townsfolk and animals in a wild chase about the countryside, lives at 398.2 on the library shelves. But the Gingerbread Man is not the type of cookie that stays in one place for very long, and one day he just can’t help himself. With a leap and a whoosh, he escapes the librarian’s grasp, and the chase for the wily Gingerbread Man is on again!

The Land of Stories: A Treasury of Classic Fairy Tales by Chris Colfer

An illustrated nursery rhyme and fairy tale collection features the classic tales that Alex and Conner fall into in the Land of Stories series.