Teddy Bear Stories

On a November day in 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear in Mississippi. A cartoon about the incident appeared in The Washington Post. Brooklyn, New York shop owners made a handmade bear and put it in their storefront window with the sign: “Teddy’s bear.” And, as they say, history was made.

Bear Books:

FAMOUS BEARS & FRIENDS, WRITTEN AND COLLECTED by Janet Wyman Coleman (Dutton, 2002).

WINNIE-THE-POOH (80^th Anniversary Ed.) by A. A. Milne, pictures by Ernest Shepard (Dutton, 2006).

CORDUROY, story and pictures by Don Freeman (Viking Press, 1968).

A BEAR CALLED PADDINGTON (50^th Anniversary Ed.), story and pictures by Michael Bond (Houghton Mifflin, 2008).

BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE? by Bill Martin Jr., pictures by Eric Carle (Henry Holt, 1967).

OLD BEAR, story and pictures by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow, 2008).

THE TEDDY BEAR, story and pictures by David McPhail (Henry Holt, 2002).

WHAT ABOUT BEAR?, story and pictures by Suzanne Bloom (Boyds Mills press, 2010).

HUMPHREY’S BEAR by Jan Wahl, pictures by William Joyce (Henry Holt, 1987).

JESSE BEAR, WHAT WILL YOU WEAR? by Nancy White Carlstrom, pictures by Bruce Degen (Aladdin, 1996).

JAMBERRY, story and pictures by Bruce Degen (HarperCollins, 1983).

THE TEDDY BEARS’ PICNIC by Jimmy Kennedy, pictures by Alexandra Day (Green Tiger Press, 1983).

Educator Corner:

THE WILDERNESS WARRIOR: THEODORE ROOSEVELT AND THE CRUSADE FOR AMERICA by Douglas Brinkley (HarperCollins, 2009).

LITTLE CORNER ACTIVITY:

1. Read Teddy Bears’ Picnic.
2. Learn to sing “Teddy Bears’ Picnic.”
3. Assist children in planning a “teddy bears picnic day” and hold an elaborate or simple picnic day.
4. Children can make teddy bear masks to wear to the picnic.
5. A huge, newsprint-size map to the picnic area can be drawn by everyone on the floor.
6. Select games to play and gather needed balls or other equipment.
7. Children can make small sandwiches and cupcakes.
8. Each child can bring a favorite teddy bear and/or stuffed animal to school for the day and/or to the outdoor picnic site.
9. Children can serve sandwiches and pour drinks to share with their teddy bears.
10. Sing “Teddy Bears’ Picnic” while having a teddy bear parade around the picnic grounds.
11. Illustrate the teddy bears picnic day in artwork.
12. All can have a teddy bear nap time.