Bears Theme Preschool Lesson Plans and Activities

Preschool Bear Theme Activities

Preschool and Pre-K theme activities for bears. Literacy, math, printables book lists and more!

Preschool Bear Theme Activities

(Goldilocks and the Three Bears ideas are located on the Three Bears page)

Bear Books

You can find my favorite books about bears HERE.

Corduroy Was a Bear
(tune: This Old Man)
Corduroy was a bear,
He had no friends anywhere.
He lost his button and he was all alone,
Until a girl named Lisa took him home.

Five Little Teddy Bears
Five little teddy bears standing in a line.
The first one said, “I’m feeling fine”
The second one said, “Let’s go and play”
The third one said, “Let’s play all day!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run”
The fifth one said, “Isn’t Pre-K fun?”

Bear Literacy Activities

10 in the Bed #1
10 in Bed 1
Setting: Large and Small Group, Literacy Centers
Objective: oral language, re-telling
Materials: 10 tiny stuffed teddy bears, shoe box, fabric, scissors, hot glue.
Directions: Decorate a shoe box to look like a bed using fabric, scissors, and a hot glue gun. When not in use the teddy bears can be stored inside the shoe box. Introduce this re-telling activity to the class during whole group time. Have students help you re-tell the rhyme by removing the bears from the bed as you sing the rhyme. Once the students have learned the rhyme place the activity in a center and encourage the children to re-tell the rhyme using the bed and the bears at a center.

10 in the Bed #2
10 in Bed 2
Setting: Large and Small Group, Literacy Centers
Objective: oral language, re-telling
Materials: bear accents (see resources section below), tongue depressors, file folder, one sheet of scrapbooking paper, tape, glue, Sharpie
Directions: Write the numbers 1-10 on the stomach of 10 teddy bear accents with a Sharpie. Attach the teddy bear accents to tongue depressors with glue or tape. Cut one side of a file folder in half (see picture at left). Cut a sheet of your preferred scrapbooking paper to fit the front of the file folder and glue it to the front. Close the sides of the file folder with packing tape. Act out the rhyme “10 in a Bed” during your whole group time for several days. As you sing the rhyme take the bears out of the bed according to the numbers on their stomach. Once the students have learned the rhyme place the activity in a center and encourage the children the re-tell the rhyme at a center.

Grrr Game
Growl Game
Setting: Small Group, Literacy Centers
Objective: Sight Word recognition
Materials: teddy bear accents/cut-outs, Sharpie marker, laminating film, plastic container or basket to put cut-outs in
Directions: This game is a modified version of the Bang Game. Write one sight word on each bear cut-out using the Sharpie marker. On the 27th bear write the word “Corduroy!” with the Sharpie marker. Laminate the bear cut-outs for durability. Place all the bears in a basket or plastic tub. This game can be played in large or small groups. Have the students sit in a circle and pass the basket of bears around. Each student closes his eyes and removes one bear, then identifies the word written on the bear aloud. If the student can read the word written there he keeps the bear. If not, then he may ask a friend to help him read the word. If a student gets the bear that says “Corduroy!” all the students can sing the Corduroy song out loud together. After the “Corduroy” bear is chosen the person who selected it must put all of his bears back in the basket.

Bear Math Activities

Printable Bear Grid Game
Printable Bear Grid Game
Help young children build number sense with this fun, printable bear grid game. This game is available in the Building Number Sense with Grid Games packet.

Bear 1-5 Counting Grid
Bear Counting
Setting: Small Group, Math Centers
Objective: Number recognition, number sense, one-to-one
Materials: 1-5 counting grid recording sheet (available in printables section below), bear stickers or die-cuts
Directions: Students glue the appropriate number of bear die-cuts in the boxes next to each number.

Bear Pattern Strips
Bear Patterns
Setting: Small Group, Math Centers
Objective: patterning
Materials: patterning strips (available in printables section below), bear stickers or bear die-cuts
Directions: Students make a pattern in the grid using bear stickers or bear die-cuts.

Going on a Bear Hunt Board Game
Bear Hunt Board Game
Bear Hunt Game
Setting: Small Group, Math Centers
Objective: 1:1 correspondence
Materials: 2 pieces of cardstock, packing tape, clipart, teddy bear counters, paw-print stickers (available in resources section below), laminating film, one foam die.
Directions: Tape two pieces of cardstock together as pictured at left. Next, glue Microsoft clipart to the playing board that corresponds to the story. Affix paw-print stickers to the playing board to create the path from the house to the cave. When the board is complete laminate it for durability.
Use the teddy bear counters as playing pieces. Place the playing pieces on the house to start. Students will take turns rolling the die and moving along the paw-prints towards the cave.

Bear Roll N’ Stamp
Bear roll stamp
Setting: Small Group, Math Centers
Objective: Number recognition, number sense, one-to-one
Materials: foam die, teddy bear roll ‘n stamp sheet (available in printables section below), Do-A-Dot markers
Directions: Students take turns rolling the die, identifying the corresponding number on their paper and stamping that number with a Do-A-Dot marker (see picture at left).

Bear Roll N’ Count
Bear roll count
Setting: Small Group, Math Centers
Objective: 1:1 correspondence, number sense
Materials: Bear recording sheet, Do-A-Dot markers, one foam die
Directions: Using a permanent marker, write the numbers 1-6 on the outline of a bear and copy, you will need one page per child. Give one page to each child in your small group. Each child takes a turn rolling the die and stamping the corresponding number with a Do-A-Dot marker on their bear sheet.

Bear Button Matching
Bear Buttons
Setting: Small Group, Math Centers
Objective: visual discrimination, matching
Materials: buttons, bear notepad, hot glue gun, laminating film
Directions: Laminate the bear notepad pages first. Hot glue one button to each notepad page on the bear’s overalls (see picture at left). Make sure the buttons on each bear are different. Place a bowl or container of buttons in the middle of the table. Students will search for the matching buttons and place them on the correct bear mats.

10 in the Bed
10 in Bed 3
Materials: Teddy Graham crackers, pictures of a bed, crayons.
Directions: This is a small group activity the children will LOVE. Provide each student with a Xerox picture of a bed, students may color the bed with crayons if they choose. Next, give each student 10 Teddy Graham crackers and ask them to put the bears in the bed. When everybody is ready we begin singing the song and eating the bears as we go along. This activity is great for one-to-one correspondence.

You can also do this activity using small die-cut bears and glue. Provide each student with a Xerox picture of a bed, students may color the bed with crayons if they choose. Next, give each student 10 die-cut bears and ask them to glue the bears in the bed.

Favorite Bear Story Graph
Materials: large piece of chart paper, crayons, paper, glue stick.
Directions: Make a graph on the chart paper. At the top of the graph place a Xerox picture of the cover of four or five bear stories that were read aloud to the class during your bear unit. You may need to shrink the copies to fit them at the top of the graph. Next, provide each student with a 5×5 piece of paper and ask them to draw a picture from their favorite bear story, making sure to point out which 4 or 5 stories to choose from. Finally, have each student come up to the graph and glue his or her picture in the appropriate spot. As a whole class review the graph and determine which story was the class favorite and read that story to the class again.

Fun Bear Activities

Corduroy
corduroy 1
Materials: brown construction paper, green construction paper, buttons, liquid glue, scissors, crayons, corrugated cardboard, wiggly eyes.
Provide each student a brown sheet of construction with a copied outline of teddy bear. Have each student cut out the teddy bear. Next, provide each student with a green piece of construction paper with a copied picture of Corduroy’s overalls. Place the green paper over the top of the corrugated cardboard and rub a green crayon flat over the top of the paper. This will create the effect of corduroy fabric. Next, cut out the overalls, glue them on the teddy bear, and add buttons with glue. Finally, use wiggly eyes and crayons to add Corduroy’s facial features. (the sample at left is missing the eyes and corrugated cardboard effect)

5 Little Teddy Bears
Materials: construction paper, coffee, teddy bear sponge, glue, copies of Five Little Teddy Bear poem.
Directions: Dip a teddy bear sponge in liquid Elmer’s glue and press on construction paper five times to create five little teddy bears. Next, sprinkle coffee grounds over the bears, cut out the poem and glue it to the bottom of the page.

Teddy Bears Picnic
Materials: stuffed teddy bears, Teddy Bear Picnic song, tablecloth/napkins, snacks.
Directions: Have a Teddy Bear’s Picnic day and allow each child to bring their favorite bear from home. Make sure you have plenty extra for those children who forget or don’t own a teddy bear. March around in a circle with your bears while the Teddy Bear’s Picnic song plays in the background. Lay the tablecloth in the middle of the circle and have the students arrange their bears around the edge. To avoid mishaps, I have the students sit at the tables and the bears on the floor while we eat our snack. Take pictures throughout the day to make a class book titled “Our Teddy Bear’s Picnic”.

Pocket for Corduroy
Corduroy 2
Materials: purple construction paper, hole punch, scissors, crayons, yarn, index cards
Directions: In the story Pocket for Corduroy the little bear wants a pocket to keep things in. In keeping with this theme provide each child with a purple piece of construction paper copied with an outline of a pocket. Have each child cut out their pocket and lace the yarn around the edges, you can tie off the yarn for each child when they are finished lacing. Next, give each student a blank index card and ask them to draw something they would like to keep in their pocket. Finally, insert the index card into the pocket.

Corduroy Buddy Bag

Materials: stuffed teddy bear, note to parents, composition journal, iPod, Corduroy book.
If you are not familiar with my Buddy Bag program click here. I send home a stuffed Teddy Bear in a bag along with the book Corduroy. Record yourself reading the story on an iPod for those students whose parents cannot or will not read it to them at home. Put the iPod along with a composition notebook and instructions to treat Corduroy as a “friend” just like Lisa did in the book. The parents can write about their experiences with Corduroy in the notebook. If you have a Corduroy bear that’s great, but any bear will do.

Bear Hunt
Materials: NONE
Directions: This is one of our favorites! After reading the book Going on a Bear Hunt and singing the song for a few days we go on a “Bear Hunt” just like in the book. I hide a bear somewhere in the school and we all set out on our “journey” to find him. As we go to places like the cafeteria we sing the song and use words like “munch, munch, munch”. When we go through the office we put our fingers to our lips like we’re saying “shhhh” and we whisper “tiptoe, tiptoe, tiptoe”. We look for the bear in the library, cafeteria, office, playground, and janitor’s office (that’s where he usually hides). This is one adventure your kids will never forget!
TIP: Take pictures along the way so you can make a class book later.

Free Bear Printables

Photo Credit at top: © francescodemarco / Dollar Photo Club

5 thoughts on “Bears Theme Preschool Lesson Plans and Activities”

  1. Pingback: The Activity Mom - Corduroy Activities and Crafts

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