Once Upon A Book: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

 

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

by Jan Brett

 

Summary: Goldilocks enters the Bears' home uninvited and eats all of their food! She continues to snoop around the bears' house and makes a mess in the process. Eventually the bears return, and find Goldilocks sleeping in baby bear's bed! This story is a perfect way to discuss manners and trespassing.

 

Bible Verse

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15)

Math

We used our Bear Family Counters to count and make patterns.

 

Three Bears Size Sorting Game

This was Jonah's favorite activity and we've played it over and over for a week straight! I gathered items from all over the house for this activity. I found things that I had a small, medium, and large size for each item. I made a small, medium, and large bear as a sorting mat. Since Goldilocks made a big mess, Jonah had to help sort the items for "Baby, Mama, & Papa" Bear.

Supplies: Small, Medium, and Large Size of each item to sort. Some items I used...

• Cars
• Jingle Bells
• Shells
• Popsicle sticks
• Letter Magnets
• Envelopes
• Board Books
• Pom-Poms
• Clothespins
• Rocks
• Keys
• Blocks
• Three Bear Family Counters
  
• Measuring Worms
  
• Etc...

Letter Sounds:
I chose to focus on the Letter P for Porridge, based on what my son needed to work on, feel free to focus on the Letter B for Bear. We made a bowl and talked about the Porridge that the bears ate. Next, I had him cut/paste different food pictures starting with the "P" sound on the bowl. For review: He pointed to the picture, repeated the word, and the made the "P" sound as I called them out.

"P" Food pictures I used: pumpkin, pasta, pretzel, pickle, pizza, popcorn, potato chips, and pancakes. I simply printed these from my clip-art on my computer.

Craft

We made a simple bear...complete with a bowtie!

Fine Motor Skills

Jonah used a Giant Push Pin to "Punch" along the lines of a Letter P. (Tape the paper down on the carpet or use a small carpet square on the table) After he was finished we held the letter up to the light so he could see the holes. Another way to view the letter is to hold up a flashlight and project the letter on the ceiling--"Letter Stars" in the dark!

Snack

Bear Pancakes for breakfast and Teddy Grahams for afternoon snack.

Once Upon a Book ~ Bear Snores On

 Bear Snores On

by Karma Wilson

Summary:  Bear is hibernating.  But not for long!  Poor bear wakes up to find his friends having a party in his liar and he has slept through most of it.  His friends quickly make more tea and cookies and the party continues . . . until his friends get very sleepy.

Bible Verse: 

²¹ My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
   preserve sound judgment and discretion;
²² they will be life for you,
   an ornament to grace your neck.
²³ Then you will go on your way in safety,
   and your foot will not stumble.
²⁴ When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
   when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.  (Proverbs 3:21-24)

Coloring

I figured that if Gabe is coloring in Sunday School, then he should be coloring at home.  To accomplish this, I recommend giving your toddler 1-3 crayons.  If you give them much more, the crayons become something akin to a toy . . . something that is fun to break . . . or throw.  You can find this cute printable here.

 

The degree to which children will color their page will vary.  Gabe started out only scribbling one line.  So the fact that he stayed with this page to accomplish several lines made me quite happy.  You could also use Do-A-Dots, dot stickers, markers, water colors, or pastels. 

Hibernation Craft

Supplies:

• blue, green or white construction paper for the background
• grey half circle for the bear cave
• tape or glue
• forest stickers or clipart off of your computer of bears, trees, forest friends, etc.

 

Directions:

• Help your child tape the entrance to the bear’s cave to the background paper.  Only tape or glue at the very top of the cave, so that your child can open and shut the cave.  Essentially, so that your child can say “peek-a-boo” or “night night” to their bear. 
• Make sure that at least one bear makes it underneath the cave entrance. 

• Allow your child to place the rest of the stickers on their paper to create a forest.  At first, I handed Gabe the stickers one by one. 

Once he got used to putting the stickers on, I lined them up for him and he went to town!

P.S.  No, Gabe isn’t in AWANA for those of you who might be wondering.  But we did this activity on AWANA night . . . and he always likes to dress the same as his older brothers.   

Paint-A-Bear Magnet

Supplies:

• wooden bear (I purchased mine from Michaels)
• brown paint
• paint brush
• magnet

Directions:

• Secure a safe and covered location for your Tot to paint in freedom!
• Attach magnet to back of the brown bear once the craft has dried.
• Display on your fridge or give as a gift.

Hibernation in Action Activity

Supplies:

• Counting bears
• pretend cave (we used an old school desk)

Directions:

• This activity is really simple.  After reading the book, explain that when bears hibernate they are simply going to take a really long nap. 
• Have your child place the bears in the “fake” cave lying down for a long winter’s nap. 
• You could even practice counting how many bears fell asleep.

Crafts: Paper Bag Cave

Supplies:

• brown paper bag
  
• cotton balls
  
• glue
  
• scissors
  
• popsicle stick
  
• bear picture (I used clipart from Microsoft Word)

Directions:

• Cut off the bottom 4 inches of the brown bag.
• Cut an entrance to the cave, large enough for the bear puppet to fit through

• Have your Tot place glue on the popsicle stick and attach their bear to make a puppet.

• Spread glue evenly over the top of the brown bag, and glue cotton balls to the top to act as snow.

• Sing this song, and have your child pretend play.

Time for Sleeping  (sung to the tune of Sing a Song of Sixpence)

Now it's time for sleeping, The bears go in their caves. Keeping warm and cozy, Time for lazy days. When the snow is gone and the sun comes out to play, The bears will wake up from their sleep and then go on their way.

You can also have your counting bears find a cozy spot in the cave.

 

Make it Real:  Have a bear hibernate in your house for the Winter!

Supplies:

• stuffed teddy bear or picture of a bear (once again, I used some clip art from Word)
• dark hiding spot where a bear could stay the entire winter

Directions:

• Help your child find a dark and quiet spot to hibernate until spring!  Don’t forget about him!

 

Our hibernating bears are resting in the storage area of our basement.  Unfortunately, I think that I am going to disturb this little bear.  He is sleeping on my deep freezer!

Songs: 

Gabe didn’t just like this song . . . he LOVED this song and acting it out!

Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around

Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground

Teddy bear, teddy bear, reach up high

Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the sky

Teddy bear, teddy bear, bend down low

Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your toes

Teddy bear, teddy bear, go upstairs

Teddy bear, teddy bear, say your prayers

Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn out the light

Teddy bear, teddy bear, say goodnight

Sign Language:  Bear is a fun sign to learn.  It is like giving yourself a hug!



Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

Mommy Made Printables ~ Bears

We are excited to share some BEAR printables for you to use at home with your tots as you explore together!  I actually had a very hard time finding printables for this theme, so if you have a printable set on your blog/site and I didn’t list it here, please leave a comment with a link {free only}.

Bear Songs {from 1+1+1=1}

  

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Tot Pack {from 1+1+1=1}

 

AWESOME Bear Printables from around the web:

• Making Learning Fun: Bears
• First-School: Bears
• Kid-Zone: Bears

Do you have any BEARS printables YOU have created {and share}? If so, leave a link to your blog post in the comments below!

Once Upon a Book ~ Golden Bear

Golden Bear

by Ruth Young

Summary: Follow along with a little boy and his perfect companion, Golden Bear, as they rock in a rocking chair, talk to a little bug, build a snowman, watch the tulips grow and much more! This is a fun little book about his adventures with his special friend!

Bible Verse

A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17:7

Math

The little boys loved the Gummy Bear Graphing from Itty Bitty Bookworm! They really enjoyed being able to eat a few after we practiced counting each the different colors of bears!

Motor Skills

They used our puff ball magnets on this fun little B is for Brown Bear magnet page from Making Learning Fun.

Language

The boys LOVE using their new Design & Drill Workshop and Activity Center. I created some Design & Drill printables and we used the screws to drill the letter B for bear!

Matching

I pulled out the boys BambinoLUK and they worked on a fun little teddy bear matching game from the Brainteasers for Kids book which is part of the BambinoLUK Visual Perception 2 pack. They matched up the clothes to the teddy bear wearing the clothes and then checked their work. This is a great learning tool that the boys can work on independently!! LOVE IT! (You can read my review about it here.)

Pattern Blocks

Pattern blocks are always a hit! We used them along with our teddy bear pattern from our set of pattern cards.

Felt Board

I used the teddy bear pattern from Making Learning Fun and cut out a few golden bears from felt for the boys to use on our felt board.

Patterning

The boys worked on their colors and patterning by using the pattern cards from the Going on a Bear Hunt lapbook.

Games

Finally the best part was playing a little game that we came up with called, “Bear Hug.” We used the teddy bear counting insert cards from our Education Cubes Membership and gathered a bunch of teddy bears. The boys took turns rolling the cube, counting the bears on the cube and then grabbing that same number of bears and giving them all a big hug! (ex. Three bears on the cube = hug three bears!) They boys had so much fun with this and they were so cute hugging on all the bears.

 

Craft

We used the panda template from Tired, Need Sleep to make our own little bears! The boys were so proud of their cute little golden bears!

Snack

Have some Teddy Grahams for a fun, yummy snack to go along with the book.
Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!