Sweets Activities for Preschool, Prek, and Kindergarten

Do this theme to engage your learners in something they love! Sweets! Read on for more baking or sweets activities for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students. I like to do this theme in December instead of a holiday study. It is simple and meshes itself with a gingerbread science unit, which is my favorite.

Grab the Sweets Math & Literacy Centers, Gingerbread 5 Senses Science Unit, or the 5 Senses Science Unit.

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Sweets Activities for Literacy

Sweets Writing Table! Set up a sweets-themed writing table to encourage letter recognition, increase vocabulary, and practice letter formation. Students can write recipes for another fun activity at the writing table.

Dough Words! Use the vocabulary words with dough to make a multi-faceted activity for sensory and literacy. You can use plain dough and add in some vanilla for a scent option. This is a great way to add another sensory input.

Cookie Writing Tray! Make this cookie writing tray with salt and sprinkles! Students use a spatula to write the letters or words in the mixture. You could also use candy canes as a writing utensil. 

Donut Letters & Sounds! Create this butcher paper activity for another sweets activity. Draw a donut and write letters for the sprinkles. Then, give students sound or letter manipulatives to match on the donut. These are beginning letter sound magnets, and the letters are bottle caps with dot stickers and letters written on them. See more DIY letter manipulatives in this post.

Muffin Letters & Sounds! Practice matching letters and beginning sounds with these muffin printables. I placed the letter in the muffin tin, and students matched letter manipulatives and beginning sound muffins into the right tin.

Icing Letter Hunt! Grab some shaving cream and throw in some sprinkles to make a fun icing letter hunt for your young children. Students use the spoons and spatulas to scoop out a letter and say the name, sound, or a word depending on their level.

Cookie Sight Words! Use the included sight word cards to practice spelling and letter identification. If this is too hard for your learners, just give them letters to match uppercase to uppercase, lowercase to lowercase, or capital to lowercase. There are so many different ways to use these cookie letter cards. 

Who Took the Cookie Class Book! Class books are always a huge hit in my classroom because students can read them over and over again and love looking at their own and their friends’ work. These baking or sweets activities are full of so many skills.

Sweets Bookshelf! Check out my list of my favorite sweets books for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students. This sweets-themed book list has fiction and nonfiction books that are on-level for little learners. 

Bakery Foods Web! I like to complete this sweets activity during circle time. I had 2 students drawing at the same time for less wait time. Then, I would help them identify the beginning sound and then write the rest of the word. This is great for shared pen time during circle time.

Sweets Cutting Class Book! Create a class book by attaching the vocabulary strips to a blank page and then have students cut and glue pictures of the bakery items onto each page. If you don’t have magazines or food ads, you can google search images for students to cut out. This is great for fine motor skills!

Cupcake Letter Match! For this sweets-themed paper plate activity, I put letter stickers on the cupcakes like sprinkles, and the students matched letter manipulatives. Differentiate with matching uppercase/uppercase, lowercase/lowercase, or uppercase/lowercase. You can do this with any fun paper plate to match your theme or write numbers on the stickers to practice identifying numbers. I think ice cream plates would be fun, too!

Sweets Activities for Math

Shape Cookie Sort! Practice sorting shapes with this fun cookie-sorting game. You can use the included printable shape cookies, make your own, or use shape manipulatives you have in your classroom. Having students use the spatulas is a great way to build hand-eye coordination. 

Donut Roll & Count! Play this donut counting game 2 ways: counting the pom poms that match the die or using 2 dice, finding the sum, and putting that many pom poms on the donut. You can use whatever counting manipulative you have on hand. It is such a simple activity to practice counting or addition!

Sweets Write the Room! Place the dessert number cards around the room, and students walk around and find the numbers. Then, they trace it on their paper or write it on their paper. Write the room tasks, which are fun ideas for number recognition or letter recognition with younger kids. 

Sprinkles Graph! Create a sprinkles graph with your students to practice more than, less than, or equal to. I used cut-up pipe cleaners for the sprinkles. I placed 10-15 in a container, and students placed them on their graph. Then, the students used a magnet wand to clear their graph! You can also use pom poms or buttons too.

Cupcake Measure! Compare numbers and explore more or less with this game. Print, laminate, and cut out the boards and cards. Use pom poms, rice, or beans to measure. There are 2 ways to play: exploring measurement tools or comparing more and less. Place the cupcake mouth on a large bowl with the cards in a sensory tub. Use rice, beans, or pom poms as a filler. Students will pick a card and measure out both amounts to explore using measurement tools. Or students pick a card. Measure out the two amounts with measuring spoons. Compare the bowls and determine which is more and which is less.

Cake Measurement Art! Practice ordering items by size with this cute measurement art idea. I used different colors of tape so that I could verbally help students identify the size relationships. Example: Do you see that the green one is longer than the blue one? Then, it should go next, etc. This is a great activity to practice measurement skills. 

Sweets Activities for Art

Cookie Art! Make cookies with a fun torn paper activity. I gave everyone a small paper plate for the base, and then students tore brown paper for the cookie dough. Then, they glued black triangles for the chocolate ships. If your students have trouble with fine motor skills, you can precut the strips of brown paper so all they have to do is tear the pieces with their little hands. 

Cookie Cutter Art! Create this open-ended art project with cookie cutters and paint. Students put the cookie cutter in the paint and then stamp it onto their paper. I used letter cookie cutters for even more literacy practice.

Sweets Activities for Sensory

Baking Play Dough Tray! Playdough is great for sensory and fine motor muscles, and I think it lends itself so well to a sweets theme! Make your own play dough or use store-bought and add in some scent to make it even more fun. You could use cinnamon or vanilla for a bakery vibe. Then give students cookie utensils, silicone cupcake liners, cookie cutters, a rolling pin, mini pans, pony beads, and mini erasers.

Baking Sensory Table! Dye some rice in different colors for a sprinkle vibe and create a baking sensory bin. See how I dye rice here. I added in some pom poms, trays, silicone cupcake liners, spatulas, and bowls. The students could sort objects by color if they wanted.

Icing Cakes! Help your preschool students develop fine motor muscles with this icing cake activity. Students are given a bowl and spatula. Then I put shaving cream in an icing container, and they frost their cakes. You can give them sprinkles too. I took the labels off the icing containers and laminated them. Then, I taped them back on for more durability. Kids of all ages will love this sensory play activity. 

Sweets Activities for Dramatic Play, Blocks, STEM, & Science

Bakery Dramatic Play! Set up a bakery dramatic play area to go with your sweets or baking theme. It is perfect for little learners to explore and learn. There are so many math and literacy skills that can be added too! Check out this post for more information on how I set up my bakery dramatic play area.

Baking Cookies FREEBIE! Give students a picture guide on the steps to make cookies. This is a great addition to your dramatic play area or to your play dough sensory tray.

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Gingerbread Blocks & STEM Props! I love to do a gingerbread theme with my sweets theme. Here are some of the items I add to my blocks or STEM area. Peppermint candies, buttons, gingerbread stuffies, pom poms, popsicle sticks, red and white paper straws, sweet treat books, and STEM I Can Build cards that go with the theme. This is a fun way to put the theme in your block area. 

Gingerbread Science! Set up a gingerbread 5 senses unit in your science center for more baking fun! I teach a 5 senses science unit at the beginning of the year, so my students are already familiar with the 5 senses science concepts.This allows me to go more in-depth with a cute gingerbread theme. There are so many fun science experiments for this theme. 

Whew! That was a lot of sweets activities and center ideas that are sure to be a hit in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten classroom! Grab your lesson plans and bake up something awesome for your little learners. Don’t forget to grab the printable educational activities below. Just click on the image for the sweet treats theme resources you would like to grab.

Check out this video for more sweets activities!

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