Were Going On A Bear Hunt Activities

Getting Started With Were Going On A Bear Hunt Activities

My daughter wanted to do the bear hunt stuff again. That was the third time that month. The original story is straightforward enough — family goes out, encounters obstacles, finds a bear, runs home — but the actual activities part is where things get messy if you don't plan ahead. There are too many options and most of them assume you have a craft room and four hours. You don't. I'm going to walk through what actually works when you're trying to keep a group of kids engaged with this theme without losing your mind. We'll cover the basics first, then get into the stuff that usually trips people up.

Essential Were Going On A Bear Hunt Activities for Home or Classroom

The core activities break down into three buckets: sensory play, movement-based games, and the quieter craft side. Start with the sensory bin. You need a large plastic tub, brown rice or dried beans, and plastic animals. Add fabric scraps for grass and water. The kids dig through it looking for the bear. This takes about ten minutes to set up and keeps them occupied for at least forty-five. Sometimes longer if you add extra items like acorns or small figurines. For movement, the obstacle course is non-negotiable. The story has distinct sections — swishy grass, deep river, squelchy mud, windy weather, dark forest, slippery snow. You can approximate all of these in a living room or hallway. Use cushions for the river, a blanket draped over chairs for the forest, a sheet taped to the floor for the snow. Have everyone go through in order, narrating as they go. This burns energy and reinforces the sequence of the story simultaneously. The whole thing takes maybe twenty minutes from start to finish. The craft portion is where parents and teachers usually struggle. The paper bag puppets are the standard recommendation. You need paper bags, construction paper, glue, markers, and safety scissors. Cut out ears, noses, and eyes for the family members and the bear. It sounds simple but the detail work eats time. A class of twenty-five kids will take at least forty minutes, probably longer if they're young. A workaround I've used: pre-cut the basic shapes in advance and have kids assemble and decorate during the activity. This cuts setup to about ten minutes and the crafting time to roughly twenty-five.

One specific problem I ran into: the sensory bin rice gets everywhere. I learned this the hard way when my daughter brought it home in her shoes and it tracked through the house. The fix is a baking sheet lined with a towel underneath the bin. It catches the majority of spills and you just fold up the towel and dump the rice back in. Took me three sessions to figure that out.

Advanced Nuances Most People Miss

There's a detail about the obstacle course that isn't obvious. Kids naturally want to rush through it. They've heard the story so many times they know what happens next. The trick is to make each obstacle actually require something different. The grass isn't just walking — it's bending over and moving arms like the book shows. The river requires finding stones to step on, not just jumping over a blanket. The mud needs to actually be slow and resistant. I put a layer of packing peanuts under a towel for the mud section and that changed everything. The kids couldn't rush. They had to work through it. It adds maybe five minutes to the setup but it fundamentally changes the engagement level. Another thing: the story's repetition is the learning mechanism. The "We can't go over it, we can't go under it, we've got to go through it" refrain is what builds language patterns and sequencing skills. If you're doing this in a group setting, don't skip the chanting. Have everyone say the refrain together at each obstacle. It gets loud and it gets chaotic but that's the point. It's also the part that actually sticks with the kids later when you're asking them to recall the story. Counter-intuitive point about the bear puppet: don't make it too scary. I've seen versions online where the bear has red eyes and sharp teeth. Younger kids (under five) genuinely freak out. The original book's bear is just a bear. It's surprising them, not threatening them. Match that energy or you'll spend the rest of the session managing anxiety instead of enjoying the story.

What This Approach Doesn't Do Well

Sensory bins with small materials are a choking hazard for kids under three. There's no way around that. If you have toddlers in the mix, swap the rice for large pom-poms or empty egg cartons. Same concept, zero risk. Also, the obstacle course requires space. If you're in a small apartment or a classroom with fixed furniture, you'll need to be creative. Some people use chalk outside for the path markers. It works fine but weather dependent. The craft activities produce waste. Paper scraps, glue sticks, used markers. If you're environmentally conscious about that, consider making the puppets from recycled materials or switching to a drawing-based activity instead. Colored pencils and blank paper achieve the same storytelling goal with less trash. If your kids have already done the bear hunt activities multiple times, the novelty wears off fast. The workaround is to vary the story slightly. Add new obstacles or change the ending. One parent I know had her kids create their own monster instead of a bear. It kept the structure but made it fresh. The framework is flexible enough to allow that.

Where to Find Printables and Templates

There are free resources online for this. Search for "bear hunt printable" and you'll find PDF templates for the family characters, obstacle cards, and sequencing strips. Teachers Pay Teachers has paid versions that are better organized but the free ones work if you don't mind filtering through lower quality material. The site that tends to have the most complete collection is Super Simple Songs — they have activity sheets that pair with their version of the song. Not affiliated, just what I've found reliable. For the sensory bin labels and obstacle course signs, I recommend making your own. Print them on cardstock and laminate if you have access to a laminator. Otherwise, clear contact paper works. Kids will handle these things roughly and they need to survive it. I spent money on a set of laminated cards once and they fell apart in two weeks. Homemade versions lasted all year. The whole theme works best when you commit to doing at least three of the activity types in one session. Sensory play for focus, movement for energy release, craft for quiet time. That sequence plays to different attention spans throughout the activity block. Doing all crafts first will end badly. The kids will be wound up and nothing will stick. Order matters more than people admit with this particular theme.