Tot School - Bears

This week our theme was bears...real ones and teddy bears!   I am so happy with how our themed tot school is going.  E really loves it, and even K gets into it even though most things are a little young for her or she already did them when she was 2.

Day 1
We started our first day by reading We're Going on a Bear Hunt.  We love this book!   Then I printed out pictures of different kinds of bears from all over the world, and we found where each one lives on our big wall map.  K was very relieved that there are not bears where we live.  Then we went into their closets and found every stuffed bear that we had, and lined them all up from biggest to smallest.  E kept running and throwing himself on the pile of bears, which frustrated his sister since she was trying to line them up.  In the end they were able to get it done.  Next I got out there Teddy Mix and Match game and they found all of the pairs.  Both my kids have loved playing with these.  E gets them out almost everyday and just lines them up or stacks them.  K still loves playing memory with them, as well.  We finished up with a snack of teddy grahams.

Day 2
Goldilocks and the Three Bears was our story for day 2.  My favorite version is from the Tall Book of Nursery Tales, because at the end Goldilocks and baby bear become best friends.  K's favorite part is that Goldilocks ends up having her very own pink bowl at the bears house.  After reading the story and talking about it, I gave K and E felt cutouts of papa, mama and baby bear and then they put them in order from biggest to smallest on a big piece of felt. Then they did the same with bowls, chairs, and beds. To make the bears, bowls, chairs, and beds, I printed them out on card stock and then glued them to pieces of felt and cut them out. Somewhat time consuming, but the kids loved playing with them. To finish our bear week, K and E colored a bear picture from Evan Moor Fun with the Alphabet.