We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen

This was a fun week exploring We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. We had our homeschool co-op group over midweek to experience the sensory walk and other fun bear hunt activities. Check out what we did alone and with our friends this week.

I told the story (multiple times with and without the accompanying CD track) with a Velcro story board I made. I got the idea from http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/BearHuntCircleTimePoster.htm, but didn't use their printable version, aside from the wording and people, because I didn't want to use that much ink. So I made my own version with construction paper. I moved the people, which I did print from Making Learning Fun, but are not pictured, through each stage of the story using Velcro.

We went on a sensory experience bear hunt. I made toilet paper binoculars for each of H's friends. I used my own grass, a bin of water, a bin of mud, big cardboard tubes (as tree trunks) that we wove in and out of, a bin of ice, and a little box cave with a teddy bear inside. The bear hunt was a lot of fun because we did it with Toddler School, one of our homeschool co-ops. They had fun going through it slowly the first time and then zooming through it in reverse all the way back in for snack time.

H used my cookie sheet activities to put the bears in order from largest to smallest and put the bear on different numbered caves (1-9). The numbered caves are taped on the cookie sheet and everything else is laminated with magnets on the back. I printed the images for these activities from http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2011/08/were-going-on-bear-hunt-printables/

I printed these cards from
http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/literacy/stories/bear-hunt.html#.UPh8v0KrkUU
I laminated them and added a magnet to practice story sequence on the dishwasher (since our refrigerator is not magnetic). It was easier to remind him of the order because we had already done the sensory bear hunt, so we thought back to where everything was in the yard. I could tell he understood the order. Very cool. Because of the size and amount of ink, I had these printed at a print shop and felt like it was worth the $1.50.

One of my favorite things about this story is that we get a great way to practice repetitively the concepts of over, under, and through. We did a lot of "through" activities such as crawling through a tunnel and threading ribbon through cut toilet paper tubes. Lacing card practice was good too, because that uses all three concepts, because when you "sew" you go over, through, under, through, over, etc.

 Using the bear theme, but more going along with the hungry bear from our previous unit than a bear hunt, we fed a bear strawberries. This was a lesson in following directions and taking turns that we used with our co-op friends. I made the bear from a cardboard box. I painted the face and then carved a hole for his mouth. I made the strawberries out of construction paper and then laminated them for durability.

Also using a cardboard box, I made this bear cave. Big enough to hide small things inside. H liked to hide small animals, toy cars, and blocks inside the cave. He would then call out for them and pretend to be on a "hunt" for them. Great imaginative play.