The well-known story of The Gingerbread Man has resulted in Little Ladybirds Day Nursery finding itself at the centre of a worldwide viral sensation.
Postcards and messages from around the globe are finding their way to the nursery after a Facebook post about the folk-tale unexpectedly went viral a few weeks ago.
The children been learning all about the story, which was first published in 1874 and in which a gingerbread man comes to life and runs away before he is eaten.
The same fate was about to befall one of the gingerbread men made in the nursery kitchen until he also ‘ran away’, with staff then asking, via the nursery Facebook page, parents, family, and friends to send postcards from as many places as they could, in order to help further the children’s curiosity about the world.
The post went viral and since then Little Ladybirds has been inundated with postcards and messages from people across the world. Hawaii, Canada, several parts of the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and various places in Europe are just some of the many countries which have sent postcards.
One postcard, sent from Disneyworld Paris, even had a gingerbread man superimposed in front of the Magic Kingdom next to various Disney characters.
Claire Harrison-Jones, Manager of Little Ladybirds Day Nursery, said: “What started as a small project to aid our children’s understanding of the world has morphed into something which has massively exceeded all our expectations.
“It’s hard to believe that a post on Facebook initially aimed at parents would go viral and capture the imagination of so many people.
“We are now getting postcards, letters and messages on a daily basis and it has really engaged the children who are excited to find out where the gingerbread man has been next and to learn more about the country in question.
“They are going on a real educational tour of the world every day and there’s no sign of it stopping!”
Tags: learning, little ladybirds day nursery, postcards, The Gingerbread Man, viral