Materials
White crayon or white or yellow chalk
Yellow, red, and green construction or tissue paper
Black construction paper
Child scissors
Marker
Stapler
Glue stick or glue
Instructions
1. Beforehand, place the picnic items into a picnic basket.
2. Seat the children in a circle. Read The Teddy Bear's Picnic to the children. If
desired, also play the theme song if you have it.
3. Invite the children to join you for an imaginary picnic. Spread out the
tablecloth and name each object as you bring it out of the picnic basket and
place it on the tablecloth. Pretend to serve and enjoy a delicious meal and
play some games together.
4. Then say, "Our tummies are so full, and our heads are so sleepy, we'll need
to take a little nap now. Everybody close your eyes, cover them up, and wait
for me to choose a little teddy bear to come out of the woods. Listen while I
call your name to hide something in our picnic basket."
5. Give each child a turn to remove something from the tablecloth and conceal
it in the basket. Invite others to open their eyes and guess what's missing.
More to do
Children can use teddy bear counters for
sorting activities, enjoy gummy bears
as a treat, draw teddy bears on
brown construction paper, or
have a teddy bear tea party
in the Dramatic Play
area.
(For many
more ideas, see
Chapter 11, "Teddy Bears
and Other Bears" in Story S-t-r-e-tc-
h-e-r-s and More Story S-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-r-s
by Shirley C. Raines and Robert J. Canady.)
