Baby Bear

Today our story time theme was BEARS! Even though it was an extra small crowd today we still had alot of fun!

Let's jump right into our first book: The Bear Hug by Sean Callahan. I absolutley love this book about a little cub and his grandpa doing bear activities including the family tradition of bear hugs.

Next up was Thank You Bear by Greg Foley. This one is short and sweet. I think it sends a good message about not listening to the naysayers out there.

We then did Ten little teddy bears. I found some clipart I thought was cute and laminated it. I put magnets on the back so it would stick the chalk board. As we sang the song I placed the bears under the appropriate number I had drawn in chalk on the board. The second time through the song I had some helpers help me put them up.

Ten Little Teddy Bears

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Teddy Bears

Four Little, Five Little, Six Little Teddy bears

Seven Little, Eight Little, Nine Little Teddy Bears

Ten Little Teddy Bears at story time today!

We HAD to read the classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr. You can really get the kids involved by having them tell you what sounds the animal makes or by having them help you point out all the animals at the end.

Our craft ties in with my stick puppets I used for a little rhyme I made up:

Five Little Bears

5 little bears playing outdoors, one ran away and then there were 4.

4 little bears running from a bee, one got stung and then there were 3.

3 little bears wondering what to do, one went to the river and then there were 2.

2 little bears having some fun, one got tired and then there was 1.

1 little bear and no more sun, went home to his mama and then there were none!

I gave each bear a different color shirt and glued the lines to the back of the bears. EASY PEASY! The kids were getting antsy at this point so we moved along to the fun part, THE CRAFT!

The craft is called Build a Bear Puppet. I preglued the sticks to save time and make it so much easier on the parents. One of the parents pointed out the possibility for so many other animals using those sticks.