Bears, Bears, Bears

To kick off preschool we did 3 straight weeks about bears. Our first week focused on a true family favorite "We're Going on a Bear Hunt", the second week we transitioned into "Blueberries for Sal", and the third week we finished off with "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"

*=OPEN ACTIVITY (These are activities that we do together the first time [or first couple of times] but then they are left out to enjoy whenever the kids want to go back to them, since they can be done alone)

Week 1- We're Going on A Bear Hunt

Art/Cooking: We made chocolate pudding "mud" and served it with teddy graham "bears"

Fine Motor/Pre-Writing: We worked on pencil skills and did a tracing activity, following the "path" thru the places in the book.

*Math/Science: We talked about size and put printed pictures of bears in order from littlest to biggest.

*Storytelling: We made felt story sequencing squares and reenacted the book.

Plain Fun: We watched THIS wonderful video of author telling the story. Over and over.

Bonus Books: You and Me, Little Bear by Martin Waddell and Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Week 2- Blueberries for Sal

*Art/Cooking: We used bingo dobbers, scissors, and glue to make "blueberry pie".

*Fine Motor/Pre-Writing: We used tweasers to pick up and move blue (blueberry) buttons.

Math/Science: We talked about direction words and played a "where is little bear game" in which Zeke had to put a printed little bear where I said on the scene (example: Little bear is above the stump). Then we played "where is Zeke" in which Zeke had to go where I said (example: Zeke is beside the couch).

*We worked on number recognition and counting playing a "blueberries in the pail" game.

We also played Hi-Ho-Cherry-O.

Bonus Books: Jamberry by Bruce Degen and The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood

Week 3- Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Art/Cooking: We made and colored our own Brown Bear book.

Fine Motor/Pre-Writing: We played "I spy" games with our magnet letters. (example, "Mommy Bear Mommy Bear What do you see?" "I see the Letter C looking at me!"

*Math/Science: We played a heads and tails matching game.

*Story Telling: We reenacted the book with felt board animals.

Bonus Books: Where Does the Brown Bear Go? by Nicki Weiss and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Eric Carl