Beyond the Book: We're Going on a Bear Hunt!

"We're Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen has been a longtime beloved book in this house. It's got everything you could ask for in a great children's book: rhythm, repetition, great illustrations and a fabulous sense of adventure! It also seemed like a perfect piece of literature to take beyond the book as part of our Animals in Winter Theme.
I've always been impressed by some of the preschool curricula based entirely on children's literature. I'm not quite ready to take the plunge and take our homeschooling solely in that direction, but spending a day in themed activities and play based on a favorite book seemed like a great way to incorporate this concept into our usual routine. I wanted it to be very exciting and special for my little one as well, so I spent some time the night before our Bear Hunt Day doing a little preparation and setup.

I pitched our play tent as a "cave" and hid a stuffed bear inside. In the morning, I met my son in his room with a pair of binoculars and after getting dressed and ready for the day, I announced we were going on a bear hunt! He took his binoculars along and began the long trek down our mountain (stairs) and toward the bear cave, where he was very excited to find our resident bear inside! We took a bear themed breakfast break before we began our school time routine.

Our Table Time activity was a scissor skills practice to cut "grass" for a project we would get to later in the day. He was quite excited to have another opportunity to practice with scissors, a skill he's been very eager to master lately. We did our traditional morning circle time activities from the coziness of our bear cave and read our copy of the book together. Next it was time to get to PLAY! If we were to go on a bear hunt, we might need a map. So we sat down together at the table and made our own story map collage to retell the adventure of We're Going on a Bear Hunt.

We used a variety of materials and mediums for our story map.

We retold the story and looked at the book for reference as we completed our collage.

There are a lot of great ways to inspire story telling and playacting of children's literature. One of my favorite is small world play. It's great fun to act out the story through dramatic play and to watch as my son expands on the theme to create his own versions of the story.

All that story telling inspired my budding author to draw about and dictate his own Bear Hunt story. He asked to use his journal for this activity and made up a great version of the story in which there were two bears!

Even bears need a snack break. He loved this paper plate mask activity and using it to act out the part of the bear in play!

This DIY lacing shape of a bear was a great filler activity and a great material for inspiring fine motor practice and quiet play as our morning drew to a close. He also had a great time adding his Magnetiles to our small world scene and building a house for the family and the bear! 

Want to do more?

• Check out author Michael Rosen reading his book, We're Going on a Bear Hunt in this short video!
• We enjoyed listening to and watching this playful version of the song/rhyme "I'm Going on a Bear Hunt" as we ate lunch.
• Here's a link to over 25 activities, crafts and printables to use along with We're Going on a Bear Hunt if you'd like to spend a day beyond the book or even more than a day! 

My little bear fell fast asleep after a morning engaged in play and learning about this book. I hope he's having sweet and adventurous dreams. Happy Reading and Playing!