Teddy Bear Patchwork

Materials

Teddy bear silhouette, about 4" (10 cm) high

Instructions

What to do
1. Ahead of time, cut out a teddy bear silhouette
about 4" (10 cm) high from
cardboard, and glue it to a larger rectangle
of cardboard. Cardboard from
shirts or cereal boxes works fine. If there
is no time to glue, rolls of masking tape
will hold the bear to the backing.
2. Talk to the children about patchwork
quilts and how, on some quilts, one
design is a repeated over and over in
different colors. Their rubbings will look
like a teddy bear patchwork.
3. To keep cardboard from shifting, tape it
to the table. Place paper over the cardboard. To check paper position, ask children to "feel the
bear under the covers."
4. Invite the children to rub the side of a crayon back and forth several times over the bear until
the image appears on the paper. Children can help each other one holds the paper while the
other rubs. After a good image has been produced, have them choose a new color crayon and
shift the paper over slightly to begin the next "patchwork" block. (Older children may want to
start at one corner of the paper, so they can add bears in a row.) Repeat rows (or random
groupings) of bears in a variety of colors.
5. After filling the paper, use a dark crayon to add features such as eyes, nose, and mouth (a simple
"V" can be used as a mouth, or use two "Js" back to back to form a teddy bear smile).
6. To give the impression of a really big quilt, hang the pictures with their edges touching.
More to do
More art: Using the technique on the previous page, make teddy bear placemats (for extended
use, laminate or cover with clear contact paper). Make the cardboard teddy bear relief in three
sizes (big, medium, and small) so children can make rubbings for "Goldilocks and the Three Bears,"
adding details from the story.