We're Going on a Bear Hunt {B4FI♥AR}


~Bo is 3 years, 1.5 months~ 

This row brings back so many fond memories of rowing with Malachi and Eliana. And while I wasn't sure I would enjoy Before Five in a Row as much the second time around, I think I will enjoy it MORE! This row is Week 6 in our life, and was a really full, and fun week!

Day 1

Each day this week, Bo watched the video of the story, and followed along in the book, We're Going on a Bear Hunt.* As you can see, he really enjoyed this.







We used Homeschool Creation's printables for several activities.

Little to Biggest



Where's the Bear? 


Bo really loved this game. We took turns hiding the bear and recognizing numbers to find the bear. I would tell him the bear is under number 3, for example, and he would find the number. Bo can recognize all numbers to five, and most numbers to ten, by the end of the game.


Counting Bears

Then, we used the paw prints to practice counting Hugga Bear Cookies.



We're Going on a Color Hunt


Day 2

We're Going on a Shape Hunt

I hid shapes in a tub of long wavy grass.


And Bo had to find them and match them up to a Shapes Card that I printed from Confessions of a Homeschooler's Letter of the Week curriculum.




Eliana hid a Squinkie bear in there for Bo to find.

Uh, oh. Grass. Long, wavy grass.



Oh, no! We'll have to go through it!



Swishy swashy. Swishy swashy.

Another shapes activity from Confessions of a Homeschooler





Teddy Mix and Match*




Bo plays this game regularly and it never gets old.


Telling me he has five matches. (He has ten).

Day 3

Animal ABC Shapes 



Watching the video again, and following along in the book, with Sissy's help.





Uh, oh. A River. A Deep Cold River. 



We added Saucy Yuck and later some Chunky Yuck to the water for a fun sensory experience. (Sample packs are  now available for $2.95 with free shipping).




Bo doesn't like to get his hands messy, so I added some blue food coloring and gave him a wooden spoon to stir it in. Then brother and sister wanted to play and that made it more fun.








Talking About Bears


Play Dough Bb







Really loved how much time and effort he put into rolling the dough and making his letters.

What Letter Does It Start With?

I wasn't really sure if Bo was ready for this activity, but he did really well with it! He listened for the sound at the beginning of the word and placed a transparent sticker over the letter that makes that sound. If he didn't get it right away, I sounded out the word again and emphasized the first sound. Listening for sounds is a skill taught in All About Reading Pre-1 (affiliate link), so this gets me excited about doing this level with Bo!



Dot Paint the Bbs on the Bear





Connect the Bear to the Cave



Day 4


Make a Memory ~ Thick Oozy Chocolate Mud Pudding 

I had Bo scoop chocolate pudding into silicone bear muffin tin cups. Then he hid bears in the pudding.



 Squelch squerch!

Then we topped it with whipped cream for a swirling, whirling snowstorm. {Awesome idea from Susana @ Our Homeschool Fun!}






Bo really only wanted to eat the whipped cream, so we used the pudding to finger paint a B!



Meanwhile, outside there is a real swirling, whirling snowstorm. 

In fact, we had many snowstorms this week.




Day 5

We're Going on a {Real} Bear Hunt! 

We went on a Field Trip to ZooMontana to hunt for a real bear. They have a black bear and a grizzly bear, but they were sleepy today. Bears only partially hibernate so they do come out, and did just before we left, but it was cold and I didn't feel like walking all the way back to see them.

But, we did see this super cute Red Panda Bear (not really a bear, but cute!) who was quite active and interesting to watch.



We hardly ever make time for fun trips like this when we go to Montana (to shop), so this was fun.

Watercolor Art

This fab idea is from Learn with Play at Home. We watercolored* the scenes from the book. I had Bo paint on 4x6 watercolor paper so I could put them in my Project Life album. We also made a bear cave with two goggly eyes to put in our Bear Hunt Scene.

I had Bo watch the video of the book while we painted, and I paused at each scene so he could paint.


We really had a wonderful, memorable time with this book! Wish they could all be this fun!




Delightful Links:

20 comments

  1. Yay! I'm so glad you will still be posting FIAR! I have missed these posts! :)

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  2. Oh Michelle! I love this! I use to use your wonderful ideas for my oldest a few years ago when Malachi and Eliana were doing B4FIAR. I just hopped on to browse your ideas again today, for my younger boys. And I love that you have new posts with Bo up!! Positively delightful and completely inspirational!

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  3. I am so glad that you are posting more these days! You always seem to inspire and motivate me. I ordered the teddy bear match up from your amazon store and I was wondering where you got the silicone bear cups. They at so cute. Thanks so much!

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  4. What a fun week, so full of sensory activities. Glad you were able to get out for a field trip too!

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  5. Thanks for letting me know, Katie! ♥

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  6. Wonderful to hear from you, Kiasa! Thank you!!

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  7. Thanks, Jerri! I'm so happy to hear! I ordered the silicone bear cups off of ebay. I couldn't find them anywhere else, (they are discontinued). I pulled up this listing for you. Hope that helps!

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  8. What a fantastic theme! You guys were very busy!

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  9. Thanks, that is perfect!

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  10. We had this book out of the library last week - and I use the song with my dance classes often. Luckily I have the book memorised, since it's back at the library and my 20mo old asks for it all the time! Bookmarking this for when we start doing non colour/shape themed weeks!!

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  11. AwesomENess! We are going to be doing many of these activities! Thank you for posting, we were readingthis book before My delivery :)

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  12. Wow! These ideas are absolutely fantastic - I think I pinned nearly every single one to a specific pinterest board :) I would love to have been able to learn like this! I'll definitely be coming back to see what other ideas you will be sharing! Thank you so much for all of this inspiration!

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  13. So excited to start rowing again too! I've missed it! When you linked to the "Yuck", saying they had free shipping - is a code needed for that? I did not show up as free for me. Thanks!

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  14. Yes, use the coupon code sample for free shipping! Sorry for not mentioning that. It is mentioned in the product description at the bottom.

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  15. Another activity that we did to tie into your color theme: we went on a color hunt. I put color labels on paper bags and hid colored objects in fake snow for Bo to find, and then place in the right bag. I didn't include it in my post because Bo did the activity in less than 2 minutes, but had I made it more challenging for him, it might have been more fun. Hope you have lots of fun!

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  16. Well, thank you very much! :D I wish I could teach like this every week! I enjoy it very much when I do. :)

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  17. I just discovered your blog, and I so enjoyed looking around. A friend of mine is already dreaming of what she will do with her little one. I had suggested BFIAR. I didn't know about it when I had such little ones, but we were able to enjoy FIAR for a time. Such sweet memories!

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  18. Cute ideas for the row. His expression while eating his bear pudding snack is priceless!

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  19. Hi Tara, So happy to have you stop by! Wonderful that you suggested Before Five in a Row to your friend ~ it really does make sweet memories. :)

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