Bears, Teddy Bears Teaching Theme
Introductory Activities
Tracking a Bear
Follow bear paw prints to find a special treat, such as bear claws or Teddy Grahams.
We were studying bears during letter B week, so I prepared a basket of bananas, blueberry muffins, and Butterfinger candy bars for our snack.
Looking for Corduroy’s Missing Button
This activity can be used at the beginning of the school year to introduce children to school staff and help them become familiar with the building. It also works as a shape review.
Cut large buttons in different shapes, such as circles, stars, and squares. Laminate them and draw buttonholes with a marker.
Before students arrive, distribute the buttons to staff members throughout the building, including the principal, librarian, and lunch helpers.
Read Corduroy aloud and explain that the class will search for Corduroy’s missing button.
Travel throughout the school, introducing staff members and asking whether they have found Corduroy’s button. Each person has a button, but none is the one Corduroy is looking for!
Have Teddy Grahams or gummy bears waiting in the classroom for a snack. You can hide a button resembling Corduroy’s in the room for students to discover, or let the button remain missing.
Follow-Up Activities: Sort and graph real buttons by size, shape, or color. Another idea is to make a construction paper bear wearing overalls and glue real buttons onto it.
Literacy Activities
Bear Books
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
- Corduroy by Don Freeman
- A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
- Somebody and the Three Blairs by Marilyn Tolhurst
- Ira Sleeps Over
- One Bear All Alone
- It’s the Bear! by Jez Alborough
- Where’s My Teddy? by Jez Alborough
- We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
- Baby Brown Bear’s Big Bellyache by Eugene Coco
- Berlioz the Bear by Jan Brett
- The Big Bears
- The Bears’ Autumn
- Alphabears: An ABC Book by Kathleen Hague
- Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear: A Classic Counting Rhyme, illustrated by Michael Hague
- Every Autumn Comes the Bear by Jim Arnosky
- The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear
- Tops and Bottoms
- Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr.
Literature Extension Activities
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
- Read the book several days in a row, allowing students to identify color words and join in with the repeated text.
- Make puppets to retell the story.
- Act out the story using animal characters.
- Create a class book featuring students’ names and pictures.
Additional Resources:
- Brown Bear Lesson Plan and Character Cards
- Brown Bear Printable Templates
- Brown Bear Animal and Color Word Matching
- Brown Bear Story Patterns
Corduroy
- Read Corduroy and A Pocket for Corduroy.
- Play “Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?”
- Read nonfiction books about real bears, such as The Big Bears or The Bears’ Autumn, and compare real bears with fictional bears.
- Read The Button Box and sort buttons by size, shape, color, and number of holes.
Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear?
Use this story and related activities to discuss children’s fears.
Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear? Activity Card
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Printable Resources:
Activities:
- Make a Venn diagram comparing Goldilocks and the Three Bears with Somebody and the Three Blairs.
- Act out the story with children wearing character headbands.
- Make story puppets for children to take home and use for retelling.
Goldilocks Sorting and Sequencing
Sort pictures of objects and characters from the story, including beds, bowls, chairs, bears, and Goldilocks.
Find all the big, medium, and small objects.
Find all the bowls, beds, chairs, and bears.
Sort the pictures into living and nonliving things.
Use the cards to retell the story in sequence.
Bear Shadow
Explore shadow activities that children can complete with their families.
Bear Rhymes, Chants, and Songs
The Bear Went Over the Mountain
The bear went over the mountain.
The bear went over the mountain.
The bear went over the mountain
To see what he could see.
And what do you think he saw?
What do you think he saw?
The other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain
Was all that he could see.
The Bear Hunt
An echo chant with actions.
The leader says each line and the group repeats it while copying the actions. Begin by alternately patting hands on knees to imitate walking down a path.
Leader: Do you want to go on a bear hunt?
Group: Repeats.
Leader: Alright!
Group: Repeats.
Leader: Let’s go.
Group: Repeats.
Leader: What’s that?
Group: Repeats.
Leader: That’s a river.
Can’t go over it.
Can’t go under it.
Gotta go through it.
Alright. Let’s go!
Make swimming motions for eight strokes, then resume patting knees.
Leader: Oh, look! What’s that?
That’s a bridge.
Can’t go under it.
Can’t go through it.
Gotta go over it.
Alright. Let’s go!
Pound the chest gently to imitate footsteps on a bridge. Resume patting knees.
Leader: Oh, look! What’s that?
That’s a swamp.
Can’t go over it.
Can’t go under it.
Gotta go through it.
Alright. Let’s go!
Move hands as though pushing through tall grass, then resume patting knees.
Leader: Oh, look! What’s that?
That’s mud.
Can’t go over it.
Can’t go under it.
Gotta go through it.
Alright. Let’s go!
Make upward pulling motions as though lifting feet out of thick mud.
Leader: Oh, look! What’s that?
That’s a tree.
Can’t go under it.
Can’t go over it.
Gotta go up it.
Alright. Let’s go!
Make climbing motions. Suddenly look up.
Leader: Oh, look! What’s that?
Quickly reverse all the previous motions without speaking: climb down the tree, run through the mud, cross the swamp, go over the bridge, swim across the river, and return along the path.
The leader gives a sigh of relief and wipes their brow.
Related Song: The Cool Bear Hunt by Dr. Jean is similar. Visit Dr. Jean’s website.
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy,
Was he?
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, up on tiptoes.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your nose.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, walk to me.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, bend your knee.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, hop around.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, sit on the ground.
Bear March
Sing to the tune of “The Ants Go Marching,” replacing “ants” with “bears.”
The bears go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!
Teddy Bear ABC Chant
A-B-C-D-E,
I lost my teddy. Oh, where can he be?
F-G-H-I-J,
I don’t think my mother put him away.
K-L-M-N-O,
I wonder how far my teddy will go.
P-Q-R-S-T,
Isn’t there anyone who’ll help me?
U-V-W-X-Y,
I think I’ll sit down here and cry!
Z-Z-Z-Z-Z,
What? You mean he’s still in my bed?
Bear Class Books
Brown Bear Class Book
Create a class book using students’ names and pictures, following the pattern of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Example: Dylan, Dylan, who do you see? I see Jake looking at me.
A Bear Followed Me Home
Create a counting book with the appropriate number of bears on each page. Have students color the bears to match the text.
On Sunday, I saw 1 red bear, and he followed me home.
On Monday, I saw 2 blue bears, and they followed me home.
On Tuesday, I saw 3 yellow bears, and they followed me home.
On Wednesday, I saw 4 green bears, and they followed me home.
On Thursday, I saw 5 orange bears, and they followed me home.
On Friday, I saw 6 orange bears, and they followed me home.
On Saturday, I saw 7 GREAT BIG BLACK bears, and they followed me home.
And my mother said, “NO MORE BEARS!”
Other Bear Booklets
- Where Is Teddy? — Position word booklet, The Mailbox, Kindergarten, August/September 1998.
- My Black Bear Book — The Mailbox, Kindergarten, February/March 1996.
Other Bear Literacy Activities
Erase the Face Game
Divide the class into two teams to practice sight words or letters.
Show a flashcard to the first student in each line. If the student identifies the letter or word correctly, they erase one part of a bear drawing, such as an eye, ear, or arm.
The first team to erase its entire bear wins!
Bear Share
Have a special Bear Share activity. Students bring their favorite teddy bears from home and tell classmates about them.
We shared our bears’ names, where we got them, why they were special, and where they slept.
At the end of the day, each bear received an award.
Bear Erase-a-Rhyme
Shared on Teachers.net and combining ideas from Jessica, Barb, and Jan.
Transfer a bear picture onto a dry-erase board using a transparency.
Read the following rhymes. As students identify the missing words, invite them to erase the corresponding part of the bear.
Teacher begins:
We’re going on a bear hunt!
Make no noise—don’t even grunt!
Hey, do you think bears like pies?
I don’t know, but we’d be able to tell by the gleam in his _____ (eyes)!
When we find a bear, will it stop for a picture and pose?
“No way, Jose,” that everyone _____ (knows/nose)!
When they eat honey, do they get stung?
I don’t know; we’d have to look at their _____ (tongue).
Which way shall we go—North, East, West, or South?
How do I know? Hey, you’ve got pie all over your _____ (mouth).
I bet they have mighty powerful jaws!
Yeah, just like their great big _____ (paws).
What do you think the bear hears?
Have you ever seen their round _____ (ears)?
“Run faster than the bear,” is what my mom always said.
Yeah, just try to keep away from his _____ (head).
Have you ever seen a bear cry?
Only when it wears a polka-dotted _____ (tie).
We can only get as close as he allows.
Now erase his bushy _____ (eyebrows).
He’s been eating fish; his breath is all smelly.
Now we can erase his _____ (belly).
Bear Math Activities
Patterning
Pattern Block Bear Ties
Have students glue paper pattern block shapes onto ties worn by teddy bears. This activity works well in a learning center.
Bear Macaroni Patterns
Use dyed bear-shaped macaroni to create repeating patterns.
Teddy bear counters, gummy bears, or Teddy Grahams can also be used.
Sorting
Sorting M&Ms
Have students sort M&Ms by color onto different sections of a bear’s body.
Sorting Teddy Bears
Sort the teddy bears students brought from home.
We sorted them into brown bears and bears that were not brown. We also sorted them by size, including small and medium bears.
Button Sorting
After reading Corduroy, sort buttons by shape, color, size, or number of holes.
Other Bear Sorting Materials
Use teddy bear counters, dyed bear macaroni, gummy bears, or Teddy Grahams for sorting activities.
Graphing
Have students sort and graph gummy bears by color.
The best part is eating the gummy bears when the graph is finished!
One-to-One Correspondence
Bears in Beds
Make a workmat showing six beds. Have children place one teddy bear counter in each bed.
Corduroy’s Pockets
Read A Pocket for Corduroy.
Make a worksheet featuring several bears wearing overalls. Have students draw one pocket on each bear’s overalls.
Bunk Bed Counting
Use a bunk bed workmat to reinforce one-to-one correspondence.
For every bear placed on the top bunk, students must place another bear on the bottom bunk.
Addition and Subtraction Readiness
Roll Over: Teddy Bear Subtraction
Place 10 Teddy Grahams on a paper bed workmat.
Sing the song “Roll Over” and remove or eat one Teddy Graham during each verse.
This activity reinforces subtraction readiness.
Bunk Bed Addition
Use the bunk bed workmat to act out simple addition story problems with teddy bear counters.
Bear Science Activities
Living and Nonliving Bears
Discuss real bears and fictional teddy bears from the stories students have read.
Have students sort pictures into living bears and nonliving toy bears.
Animal Habitats
Classify the animals from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? according to their habitats, such as land or water.
Culminating Bear Activities
Teddy Bear Games
Adapted from August Monthly Book, The Education Center (TEC758).
Plan a special day of Teddy Bear Games featuring several activity stations.
- Opening Ceremonies: Sing several bear-themed songs.
- Bears in Buckets: Try tossing five stuffed bears into a bucket.
- Bouncing Bears: Place the bears students brought from home on a sheet. Have children hold the edges and gently bounce the bears up and down.
- Musical Bears: Play Musical Chairs while students hold their teddy bears.
- Balance Beam Bears: Have students carry their bears while walking across a balance beam.
- Obstacle Course: Students carry their bears through an obstacle course. At the end, they slide their bears across a table and crawl underneath to retrieve them.
- Busy Bear Relay: Hold a relay race in which students pass a stuffed bear to the next teammate.
- Closing Ceremonies: Enjoy an Olympic Bear Snack and award participation medals to students and their bears.
Teddy Bear Games Pass Cards
Create a pass card with eight boxes representing the activities.
Students place a sticker in each box after completing an activity.
Opening Ceremonies: Bear Hunt Song
Part of our opening ceremonies included singing Dr. Jean’s Bear Hunt song about a bear with big, googly eyes.
Bears on a Blanket
Bears on a Blanket was probably our favorite game…
…because we got to do this!
Bears in the Bucket
During the Bears in the Bucket game, we tried to toss five stuffed bears into a tub.
Musical Bears
Musical Bears was fun! Play it just like Musical Chairs, but have each student hold a teddy bear.
Bears on the Balance Beam
We enjoyed playing Bears on the Balance Beam.
Teddy Bear Relay Race
Run, run, as fast as you can! It’s the Teddy Bear Relay Race!
Teddy Bear Obstacle Course
At the end of the obstacle course, we pushed our bears across a table and crawled underneath to retrieve them.
Olympic Bear Snack
Use vanilla frosting to attach gummy bears to five vanilla wafers, arranging the wafers to resemble the five Olympic rings.
Teddy Bear Awards
Give each child a medal for participating in the Teddy Bear Games. Their teddy bears can receive medals, too!
Every bear receives a special award. Here are some ideas:
- Smallest Bear
- Tallest Bear
- Smartest Bear
- Most Colorful Bear
- Best Fed Bear
- Sleepiest Bear
- Bear with the Cutest Nose
- Cutest Bear
- Most Huggable Bear
- Best Dressed Bear
- Bear with the Longest Fur
- Whitest Bear
- Best Named Bear
- Bear with the Most Surgeries
- Fuzziest Bear
- Most Loved Bear
- Fattest Bear
- Brownest Bear
- Happiest Bear
- Bear with the Longest Arms
Teddy Bear Picnic
Finish the day with a special Teddy Bear Picnic!
Wear bead headbands to come in disguise as bears. After all, only bears are allowed at a Teddy Bear Picnic!
Serve two favorite bear foods: fish and honey.
Of course, our version featured Goldfish crackers and Honeycomb cereal!
Watch the Teddy Bears’ Picnic video and enjoy a “BEARY” fun day!