Bear Storytime
Scott Bahlmann
Opening: Shake My Sillies Out – Raffi
Book: Panda And Polar Bear – Matthew J Baek
(This wasn't the biggest hit, but I thought it was nice to include more than just the brown bear. And it still worked fine.)
Activity: Masha and the Bear - traditional
(see full version here)
(I think this has gone better before, the kids seemed a bit too preoccupied with the projector rather than the story. Probably just need to set things up better.)
Book: It’s the Bear – Jez Alborough
(So much fun, the engagement of the kids is palpable.)
Activity: Silly Bear Hunt – from the CD Dr. Jean Sings Silly Songs
(A fun twist on the Bear Hunt, you eat through a candy factory, swim across a peanut butter river, wiggle thorough a jell-o swamp, and finally find the bear in the cave. I held up the images to demonstrate the 'over, under, around'. )
Book: The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear – Don and Audrey Wood
(A lot of the kids know this book, and were very excited to see it.)
Activity: Bear Wants More
(from the book by Karma Wilson)
(One of the first things I ever made was this big bear, with a mouth and stomach, specifically for this story. Now, some three years later, I finally did it! The first time was fantastic, the second group got a little excited and the bear was mobbed a bit, even if the kid didn't have anything to feed the bear.)
Bear wakes up hungry! Throughout the story he has friends who lead him to different foods. I handed out different colored bean bags before introducing the Big Bear, and when he found the food, whoever had that color of beanbag got to come up and feed it to bear! (above you can see him with mouse, who leads him to Strawberry Vale)
The kids loved guessing which color would be next, based on what the friends led him to. I chaned some of the animals for what I had on hand, and this is how it played out for me.
Bear eats grass - green beanbags
Mouse lead to strawberry vale - red beanbag
Hare leads to blueberry bush - blue beanbag
Skunk leads to fish feast - purple beanbag
Bee leads to honey cakes - yellow beanbag
Then bear is full, full, full, and doesn't want any more.
Then we said 'Goodnight' to bear, and he went off to take a nap.
Book: Big Smelly Bear - Britta Teckentrup
(This is a great book, nice big pictures and an easy storyline. You can tell it's good if it can keep the kids interest after big bear!)
Activity: Parachute
(Some of bears snacks were left over, so we bounced them on the parachute.)