Tapestry of Faith: Chalice Children: A Program about Our Unitarian Universalist Community for Preschoolers

Activity 5: Bear Beds

Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Bear-sized boxes, one for each child
  • Felt
  • Materials to decorate boxes, such as color markers, stickers, cloth scraps, glue sticks
  • Moistened paper towels
  • Optional: Digital camera or smartphone

Preparation for Activity

  • Gather some stuffed animals to have on hand for any child who has not brought one.
  • Collect or purchase boxes for the bear beds. Shoeboxes should work. Have some larger boxes on hand in case some children bring larger stuffed animals.
  • Purchase felt. Cut into squares to make "blankets" for bears.
  • Set up the activity area with boxes and the materials for decorating the beds.

Description of Activity

Children create a bed for their teddy bear.

Invite the children to the activity table. Say that they are going to make a bed for their teddy bear. You might say:

Your bear is your friend. You are going to make a cozy bed for your friend. Won't it be nice for your bear to take a nap?

Point out the variety of materials to glue or stick to their bed, and the markers for drawing on their bed.

Give each child a felt square "blanket" to put in their beds. Invite them to tuck their bears in bed for a nap.

Optional: Take a picture of the children with their bear beds.

Engage the children to help clean up by putting away the supplies and wiping the table with moistened paper towels.

Including All Participants

If any children have fine motor challenges, suggest that children work in pairs to help each other with gluing and decorating.