Over the past few months, I have hosted many online circle times. One thing they have had in common, is that many kids bring snacks! Why not ask all the kids to bring a snack and a teddy bear to have a virtual picnic? On social media and through email, the children were instructed on what to bring to circle time. The children were also told that the best way to take part in a Teddy Bear picnic is to come in disguise. The following pattern for bear ears was shared. Feel free to download the template to use with your children.
I began circle time with the Teddy Bear’s Picnic song. It has a catchy tune, but is a bit fast for the kids to sing-a-long with.
After the song, the children shared their bears with one another. Everyone got settled in to have their snack. While we ate, we watched a live stream of polar bears at the Ouwehand Park Zoo in Rhenen, Netherlands. There is a Momma and her two cubs!
https://explore.org/livecams/polar-bears/polar-bear-ouwehand-twin-cubs-cam-2
I created a follow up activity for the children using science concepts. The children were presented an image of either a living bear or a teddy bear. They had to decide if the bear was living or non-living. We discussed how we could tell as a group. The activity was created on PowerPoint with the use of images from https://unsplash.com/. Unsplash offers freely usable images!
Our final activity for our Teddy Bear Picnic, was a favorite song. The children love to hear songs they are familiar with from school. Hap Palmer’s Teddy Bear Playtime is a frequently requested song. Everyone got moving with their teddy bear!
The Teddy Bear Picnic virtual circle time was a huge success!