A Fun Bear Theme for Preschool: Lesson Plan, Crafts and Activity for Preschoolers

A Fun Bear Theme for Preschool: Lesson Plan, Crafts and Activity for Preschoolers
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A Bear Theme Lesson Plan for Preschool

Below you will find many activities for the classroom that revolve around a bear theme. You can even use all of these activities together to create a preschool bear lesson plan as well.

Circle Time

Discuss the following questions with your students:

  • Have you ever seen a bear?
  • What do they look like? Features?
  • Where do bears live?
  • What do bears eat?
  • Have you ever heard of hibernation and what is it?
  • Do you have a teddy bear?

Here are some preschool bear activities that you can incorporate into your lesson plan as well:

Story Time Suggestions

  • The Bear Hunt book by Michael Rosen
  • Corduroy by Don Freeman
  • Bear Snores On By Karen Wilson
  • 3 Bears By Golden Books
  • Bear Wants More By Karen Wilson
  • Polar bear Polar bear What do you hear and Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See by Eric Carle.

Music and Movement

“We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” and “Bear Went Over the Mountain” (You can find the song lyrics and melody here.)

(This helps in gross motor skills)

Snack Time

Tell the children that this week we are serving “Bear Food”!- This would consist of a variety of nuts, berries, grapes, and Honey on bread called “bear sandwiches”. They are sweet treats your preschoolers will love and they are nutritious which the parents will love too.

Nap Time

You could make caves out of large blankets and have the students take their naps in them like hibernating bears. The children can make caves out of grocery bags for their teddy bears to nap in as well!

Math

Have the children bring in their favorite teddy bear to share with the class. During math time, you could compare the children’s bears to see which ones are large, medium, and small. This could act as a sorting exercise using color, size, and even certain characteristics.

Language Connections

Read a story like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?__, and ask the children to draw you something that they liked from the story and have them share what they drew with the class.

You could talk about and list on chart paper some of the vocabulary words they are learning:

  • Hibernate
  • Brown Bear
  • Polar Bear
  • Koala Bear
  • Panda Bear
  • Black Bear

Arts and Crafts

Here are a few cute crafts with a bear theme your students may enjoy.

Materials Needed:

  • Bear pictures/outlines
  • Coffee
  • Small sifters or one for each group of 3 or 4
  • Glue
  • Cinnamon (optional)
  • Variety of watercolors
  • Shaving Cream
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Paintbrushes (used for glue)

Use outlines of bears on ditto paper for the following:

1.) Coffee Bear Pictures-Have students put glue on picture and spread with popsicle sticks. Then have them use a sifter to pour coffee on it and let dry. Shake excess off. They can also add cinnamon to add more color.

2.) Puffy Paint Bear Pictures-Make homemade puffy paint by adding the desired watercolor paint color to shaving cream and glue. Students then are to mix and spread on the pictures. (These both work on fine motor skills.)

Science:

For this you may need the help of your local librarian. Find a video geared toward young children to have your class view and learn about bears and how they live and survive in the wild. Polar bears who are now fighting to survive would be interesting to learn about, as well as the panda bear, which is also close to extinction.

Library Area:

In the library area make sure you have an assortment of books (including zoo books and magazines), posters and videos of various type of bears available, this way the kids can freely explore and learn more about bears during centers or playtime.