Polar Bear, Polar Bear - More Fun with Bears!

Over the weekend we spent time learning about my fave animal - the Polar Bear!

I have been awed by these powerful and yet adorable animals for as long as I can remember so it was fun for me to share them with my Lil Divas.

Books we read:

We of course focused on Eric Carle & Bill Martin Jr.'s:



and a few other Polar Bear faves:

My Little Polar Bear
by Claudia Rueda - cute basic polar bear facts are given in the dialogue of the story

A Polar Bear's World (Caroline Arnold's Animals)
by Caroline Arnold - great polar bear facts given in story form

The Three Snow Bears
by Jan Brett - a cute polar bear take on Goldilocks & the 3 Bears

Snow Bear (Soft Touch Book) by Piers Harper

Hush Little Polar Bear
by Jeff Mack

Polar Bear Snack:

What You Need:
1 oreo cookie
1 dark grape (cut in half)
cream cheese
1 half of a bagel or 1 rice cake
2 banana slices

Assemble as pictured below to make your yummy polar bear snack - the Lil Divas loved these!

Circle Polar Bear Craft:

What You Need:
Color Construction paper (for background)
White Construction paper
Black Construction paper
2 wiggly eyes
Black marker
Scissors
Glue

What To Do:
Prep:  I used this circle polar bear template from DLTK-kids.com
- use the larger sized circle for the head (cut out 2 white circles)
-small circles for ears & nose (cut out 2 white circles & 1 black circle)

**Note: I cut out the circles myself because I knew we would be pressed for time on the day of the craft but if I had more time I would have let the Lil Divas cut them out & gotten in some great scissor skills & fine motor exercise**

Step 1: Glue 1 large circle onto background paper

Step 2: Glue 2nd large circle slightly onto other circle (see below)

Step 3: Glue 2 small circles onto top circle as ears (see below)

Step 4: glue small balck circle onto bottom head circle as nose (see below)

Step 5: Add wiggly eyes

Step 6: Add mouth using black marker (see below) and behold finished polar bear face

Puffy Paint Polar Bear Craft:

What You Need:
Foam Shaving Cream
Glue
Background paper
Polar Bear template
wiggly eyes
black pom pom ball

What To Do:
Prep: to make puffy paint mix equal parts shaving shaving cream with liquid glue - I find it best to do this right before you need it or it starts to harden and it's a little harder to paint with.

Step 1:  Cut out Polar Bear Template & glue onto background paper

*I apologize but I don't know where I originally got the great template from. I have had it for years in my teaching files :(  & always make sure I save it because it's perfect for both polar bears & brown bears. *

Step 2: Paint over template using puffy paint - this will give it the look of  fluffy "fur"

Step 3: Add wiggly eyes & black pom pom nose and let dry

**Note: we added snowflake stickers because the girls wanted to use them but you could also use the excess puffy paint to add the appearance of snow onto the background paper

Handprint Polar Bear Craft: a cute keepsake craft

What You Need:
white paint - we used tempra
background paper
black marker

What To Do:
Step 1: Paint child's hand (of choice) with white paint - be sure to cover completely

Step 2: Press down firmly onto background paper - be sure to press down on the middle of the palm

this will give you the basic polar bear body as below

Step 3:
- re-paint thumb and use it to make polar bear's head on thumbprint of hand
- re-paint pinky and use it to make 2 small ears on newly added head
- re-paint pinky again and use it to make tail
- let dry

Step 4:  use black marker to add eyes, mouth, outline of inner ears and toes/nails to complete the polar bear

B is for Bear Sticker Fun:

What You Need:
white paper
polar bear stickers (you can use any bear stickers, beansor even buttons to showcase the letter Bb work with what you have)

What To Do:
Prep: Draw an upper case and lower case Bb onto the white paper

Step 1: Have the child place the stickers (or whatever you are using) on the outline to make the letters Bb

**Note: I always monitor and encourage them to follow correct letter formation when doing these - it's great practice for writing the letter

As you can see, we had great fun with Polar Bears! There's so much more you can do but with St. Patty's Day and Spring Break this coming week - I know I have to limit myself because we won't get to everything!


Don't forget to check out our Eric Carle Theme, Brown Bear and Panda Bear activities!


Bern

**I have linked this to Read, Explore, Learn , Tot Tuesdays and Show & Tell  **