BEAR QUICK STARTS

• Read the fairytale “The Three Bears” to your children.
• Teach, “big, little and medium size” using spoons or cereal bowls.
• Make bear headbands, with bear ears cut from fuzzy material.
• Make bear puzzle out of bear cardboard cutout.
• Make paper sack bear puppets.
• Have a teddy bear tea party.
• Use cardboard bear cutouts to turn into 4-8 piece puzzles.

BEAR ART

TEDDY BEAR COLLAGE

• Using a teddy bear cookie cutter as a guide, cut bear shapes out of a variety of materials such as construction paper, gift wrap paper, wallpaper, sandpaper, brown grocery bags, felt, fabric scraps, and fake fur.
• Give each of your children a large piece of heavy paper to use as a background, along with a small container of glue and a brush.
• Then invite the children to choose the bear shapes they want and glue them onto their backgrounds any way they wish to create collages.
   

TEDDY BEAR PUPPETS

• Give each of your children a teddy bear shape cut from brown poster board. 
• Set out short lengths of brown yarn, and help the children snip or pull them into tiny pieces.
• Then invite them to brush glue onto their bear shapes and sprinkle the yarn pieces all over the glue for fur.
• When the glue has dried, turn each bear shape into a puppet by stapling a craft stick onto the back for a handle.
• Encourage the children to use their puppets to act out bear rhymes, stories, and songs.
   

TEDDY BEAR TRACING & PAINTING

• Set out two or three small bear shapes, approx. 10-11” tall.
• Set out some newsprint and some crayons.
• Have your children choose a teddy bear and lay it on top of a piece of newsprint.
• Then have them trace around the teddy bear with a light colored crayon.
• Have the children take turns placing their papers on an easel and painting their papers brown.
• When dry, cut out each child’s teddy bear.
• On a different day, let children glue felt buttons, flowers or hats onto their bears.

BLOCK BEAR CAVES

• In your block area, encourage your children to build block towers.
• Drape black plastic table clothes over these towers to create bear caves for your children to play in.
   

BEAR COUNTERS
You will need some plastic bear counters for these games.

• NUMBER CARDS -  Set out some number cards and have your children place appropriate numbers of bear counters on each card.
• MATH PROBLEMS – Tell your child a simple math problem and let your children act it out with bear counters.  Example:  Three bears were outside playing.  One bear went home.  How many bears are now outside playing.  Answer:  Two.

TEDDY BEAR PARADE

• Set out some small wagons and some teddy bears.
• Encourage your children to create a Teddy Bear Parade using the bears and wagons.
   

TEDDY BEAR, TEDDY BEAR MOVEMENT ACTIVITY
Have your children act out this traditional teddy bear rhyme.
                Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, reach up high.
                Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the sky.
                Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, bend down low.
                Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch your toe.
                                                                Traditional

DANCING WITH TEDDY BEARS

• Let each child have a teddy bear as a partner.
• Put on some music.
• Encourage your children to dance with their teddy bears.
   

BEAR LANGUAGE

PERSONAL TEDDY BEARS

• Have your children bring in their own teddy bears to introduce to the group.
• Ask the children what games they like to play with their bears, or their bears names, etc.
• Have extra bears on hand in case children do not have bears at home.

THE THREE BEARS FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES

• After reading the book, “The Three Bears” to your children ask them to help you retell the story.  Encourage them to recall what happened first, in the middle of the story and at the end of the story.
• Ask such questions as, “Who’s chair was the biggest?”  or “Who’s porridge was still warm?
• After telling the story, ask your children if they can think of any different ways the story could have ended.
   

CLASSROOM TEDDY BEAR STICKER BOOK

•  Set out some scenic magazine pages; pictures of rooms in houses, pictures of outdoor scenes, picture of stores, etc.
• Have each child choose a background paper and glue it to a piece of construction paper.
• Then set out some teddy bear stickers and have each child pick 3 teddy bear stickers and place them on their magazine page.
• Now, punch holes on the left side of each page and make a book out of all of the children’s papers.
• Use the book during story time and “read” the story about the adventures of three teddy bears and all the places they visit.

BEARS ON THE TRAIN (A Counting rhyme)
                Ten little bears riding on the train.
                They’re all hoping it doesn’t rain.
                Two little bears get off the train.
                How many bears now riding on the train?  ________

                Eight little bears riding on the train.
                The sky looks like it just might rain.
                Four little bears get off the train.
                How many bears still on the train?_____

                Four little bears riding on the train.
                It starts to sprinkle, with drips of rain.
                Four little bears get off the train.
                How many bears are left on the train?  _____
                                                                   Jean Warren
Have ten children pretend to be bears riding on a train
and act out the story above.  Add more verses, with more
or less bears getting off each time, if desired.
 

TEDDY BEAR, TEDDY BEAR
Tune: “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, reach up high.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the sky.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, bend down low.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch your toe.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around now.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, take a bow.
                                Traditional (Adapted by Heather McPhail)
Have your children act out the song as they sing.

 
FUZZY WUZZY BEAR
Fuzzy-Wuzzy was a bear.
Fuzzy-Wuzzy had no hair.
Fuzzy-Wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he?
                                                Traditional
 

ONE LITTLE TEDDY BEAR
One little teddy bear smiling for you,
Here comes another bear, and that makes two.
Two little teddy bears just for you and me,
Here comes another bear, and that makes three.
Three little teddy bears sitting on the floor,
Here comes another bear, and that makes four.
Four little teddy bears looking so alive,
Here comes another bear, and that makes five.
Five little teddy bears all in a row,
Watch them dance and twirl around, as off they go!
                                                                Liz Ryerson
Have your children act out the rhyme above.

BEAR CINNAMON TOAST

• Use a bear cookie cutter to cut bear shapes out of pieces of toast.
• Butter the shapes.
• Place them one at a time onto a ridged cookie sheet.
• Invite children to (one at a time) sprinkle a mixture of cinnamon and sugar on the shapes to make cinnamon toast.
• Be sure to have children shake their bear shapes over the cookie sheet before taking them off to eat.