• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds

  • Home
  • Start Here
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Printables Terms of Use
  • Subscribe!
  • Printables
    • Free Printables
    • Circle Time Printable Packets
    • Fall Printable Packets
    • Themed Printable Packets
    • Fine Motor Printable Packets
    • Dramatic Play Printable Packs
    • Literacy and Story Time Printable Packets
    • Color Recognition Printable Packets
    • Winter Printable Packs
    • Spring Printable Packets
  • Preschool
  • Toddlers
  • Lesson Plans
    • Preschool Lesson Plans
    • Toddler Lesson Plans
You are here: Home / Winter Activities / Printable Bear Circle Time Prop

This post might contain affiliate links. Click here for more information. Thanks for visiting!

Printable Bear Circle Time Prop

December 31, 2020 by Sheryl Cooper

Share
Pin
Tweet
Email

Inside: Grab this free printable bear circle time prop to use with a variety of books, rhymes and songs!

Toddlers and preschoolers love learning about animals all year long.

However, we like to include bears in our winter animal theme.

While bears don’t actually hibernate (they go into what is called torpor), they do sleep very soundly.

In fact, one of our favorite winter dramatic play activities is pretending to sleep in caves during the winter like bears do.

This year I created a printable bear circle time prop to go with our winter bear unit.

Scroll down towards the end of this page to find the free download!

Printable Bear Circle Time Prop

If you’ve been following Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds for awhile, you are familiar with my love for using props during our toddler and preschool circle times.

Young children love visuals, so having something to hold keeps them more engaged.

If you’ve been teaching this age group for any length of time, you know that can be a challenge!

I’ve shared a variety of props in my previous posts, such as my owl color recognition activity for the flannel board and my The Wheels on the Bus song sticks that can be held.

You might have also seen my dinosaur sticks that work on counting skills.

There are so many fun ways to add visual props to your circle time!

Printable Bear Circle Time Prop

Now that it’s January, I will be putting together activities for our winter bears theme.

We’ve played with colored bear caves at the light table and created brown bears using prints from bubble wrap.

The children have even made their own little bears and beds for a long winter’s sleep.

This year I wanted to add something for our circle time, and that’s when I decided to create some simple bear props.

Assembling the Printable Bear Circle Time Props

What you will need:

  • Popsicle sticks or Jumbo Craft Sticks
  • Laminator
  • Scotch tape
  • Printable bear prop (scroll down to find the link)

I suggest either printing these on heavy paper or laminating them for extra durability.

Make enough copies so that you have one snowflakes for each student and yourself.

Preparation:

Cut out the desired amount of bears and gather your popsicle or jumbo craft sticks. After cutting them out, tape them to the top of a popsicle stick.

Printable Bear Circle Time Prop

Using the Printable Bear Props During Circle Time

Make sure you have one bear prop for each child who will be participating, plus an extra one for yourself.

Talk about how bears often sleep a long time during the winter. They can wake up, but it might take awhile, and they might be a bit sleepy.

And because young children often relate well with baby animals, you can mention that most bear cubs are born in the winter months and their mothers must wake them so they can eat.

Invite your children to hide their bear props in the palms of their hands, pretending they are sleeping in their cave.

Then, tell them to gently wake their bears up, pulling the bears from the palms of their hands.

Find some bear books, rhymes, and songs that can be recited while the children hold their bears.

Here are two books that we will be reading:

Where, Oh Where, Is Baby Bear?

Baby Bear Sees Blue


We will be singing these songs:

Where Is Hibernating Bear?

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear (the children are invited to bring a favorite teddy bear to our circle time meeting)

Here are some rhymes:

Bears Are Sleeping (Preschool Education)

Big, Brown Bear (Perpetual Preschool)

Five Little Bears (Pre-K Fun)

More resources:

Free Teddy Bear Songs and Rhymes (Living Montessori Now)

Bear Poems and Songs (DLTK-Kids)

The children can then move their bear props while you sing or read.

Looking for song ideas?

Check out my January playlist:

Preschool Songs for January

Winter Classroom Set Up

See how our toddler and preschool classroom has been set up for the winter theme in previous years:

Snow and Ice Theme Set-Up

Penguin Theme Set-Up

Hibernation Theme Set-Up

Printable Bear Circle Time Prop

More Circle Time Resources

Preschool Circle Time Activities

When Circle Time Doesn’t Go As Planned (Video)

My Secrets to a Successful Circle Time (Video)

 

TPT Winter Dot Stamping Pack
TPT Winter Learning Pack
toddler circle time winter counting props

Get Your Free Printable Here:

Share
Pin
Tweet
Email

Filed Under: Circle Time, preschool, Printables, Toddlers, Winter Activities Tagged With: circle time, preschool, printable, toddlers, winter

About Sheryl Cooper

Sheryl Cooper is the founder of Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds, a website full of activities for toddlers and preschoolers. She has been teaching this age group for over 20 years and loves to share her passion with teachers, parents, grandparents, and anyone with young children in their lives.

Previous Post: « Winter Circle Time Activity with Printable Mitten Props
Next Post: Printable Mitten Winter Color Matching Activity »

Primary Sidebar

You can also find us here!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Looking for something specific?

Categories

Welcome! I'm Sheryl Cooper, teacher of 2 and 3 year olds for over 22 years. Read more about me here!

More Printables!

preschool printables

Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds is a participant in Amazon Associates.

preschool printables

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds · Privacy Policy