Bear curriculum for homeschool preschool

Think back to your childhood and, probably, a treasured teddy bear was there to comfort and cuddle you. Your kids might be the same—Peeper is. Although she sleeps with a stuffed Elmo and a Findus the Cat most nights, a few bears are among her most treasured lovies.

I thought it would be fun, then, to structure a homeschool preschool meeting around a bear curriculum. Grrrrr!

Want to use a bear theme to teach your preschooler, too? Here’s the bear curriculum we used at preschool recently.

homeschool preschool bear curriculum

Books

I started the bear curriculum by reading two books. First we read The Teddy Bear Picnic (which, by the by, is a song). The kids had such a fun time spotting bears in the book that looked like the teddy bears they brought from home!

We also read We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. It’s fun to do motions for each obstacle the family traverses—wave your arms for the wavy grass, tiptoe when they go through the cave. (FYI, you should totally check out Michael Rosen acting out his book—he is hilarious!)

These books also set up the later activities.

homeschool preschool bear curriculumActivities

  1. Bear hunt. I printed and cut out out a line drawing of a bear for each child then hid them in my front yard. The kids were so excited to search for the bears in the bushes, planters and garden. Peeper has been having a blast finding it indoors, too, whenever her usual fun—painting, reading, blocks, etc.—gets a little old.
  2. Bear decorating. Once each kid found a bear, they colored and decorated the bears with glue, pom poms, sequins and other doodads.
  3. Feed the bear. I took a large paper grocery bag, cut out a hole for a mouth, and cut construction paper for its ears and mouth. I drew on a face, too, of course. We also learned about the letter i on the day we did the bear curriculum, so I had pictures of i words the kids could feed to the bear. You could do this with anything: letter magnets, play food, whatever. It’s just fun to feed a bear!
  4. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt sensory bins. Ok, I didn’t quite get around to prepping this, but I think it would be so cool. Check out the sensory bags from Schooltime Snippets for inspiration. Or you could make your own bins—think ice cubes in a plastic tote for the snowstorm, dangling crepe streamers for wavy grass, etc.

Songs

To help the kids get all their yips out, we sang Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around. It’s so fun to be active, especially because preschoolers learn with their whole bodies!

Next we sang—and signed—The Bear Went Over the Mountain. (I just love the sign for “bear”—learn how to sign the song, too!) Learning signs helps young children sing along and expand their vocabulary, according to the book Signing Smart with Babies and Toddlers.

homeschool preschool bear curriculum picnic

Snack

We had a teddy bear picnic! Each child brought a teddy bear from home, who joined us in the front yard on the picnic blanket. It was seriously adorable.

Do you have any favorite bear songs, books or activities I should add to my homeschool preschool bear curriculum?

14 thoughts on “Bear curriculum for homeschool preschool

  • May 23, 2016 at 11:11 am
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    What a great themed day, and especially adore how you expanded from teddy bear picnic to a whole thing with games, sons, and curriculum!

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    • May 23, 2016 at 3:45 pm
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      The kids had a blast!!

      Reply
  • May 23, 2016 at 1:19 pm
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    What a super fun and creative idea! I used to always go around singing Teddy Bear’s picnic when I was little, and I still admit to singing it sometimes 🙂 When my kids were little, we loved all of the Bear books by Karma Wilson… Bear Snores On, Bear Wants More, Bear’s New Friend, etc.

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    • May 23, 2016 at 3:45 pm
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      Oh we love those too! There are a TON of good bear books out there.

      Reply
    • May 23, 2016 at 3:46 pm
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      That grocery sack bear gave me quite the headache! I had to flip it inside-out so there weren’t a bunch of store logos on the bear. Let me tell you, that’s not easy!

      Reply
  • May 24, 2016 at 8:03 am
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    Bear Hunt is one of my son’s favorite songs from preschool. He sang it over and over for DAYS after learning it. I love that they brought their bears to the picnic. =)

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  • June 7, 2016 at 6:55 pm
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    What a cute idea! I love how you tied so many different types of learning in with your bear theme. I especially liked the bear feeding activity! I’m going to have to do this with my preschooler in our homeschool. Thanks so much for sharing it with #FamilyJoy. Hope to see you link up again this week! 🙂

    Reply
    • June 8, 2016 at 10:48 am
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      Thank you Marisa! It was a lot of fun. Definitely look for a plain paper bag if you can find one – it makes the bear feeding activity easier to make!

      Reply
  • June 10, 2016 at 2:30 pm
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    Hey Catherine, I wanted to let you know I chose this post as my feature for this week’s #FamilyJoy Blog Linky Party. Please stop by after the party goes live on Sunday @ 10am MST to grab your “I’ve been featured” button! 🙂

    Reply
    • June 11, 2016 at 9:54 am
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      Awesome, thank you Marisa!!! I had a lot of fun!

      Reply
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