Going on a Bear Hunt Activity for Kids

I am constantly trying to come up with new ways to keep the Peanuts busy so here is an activity I recently came up with. They love the book, "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. It has a lot of repetition and the kids love it. I figured this activity would be a great way to have them problem solve together and also have Emerson practice her reading.

Here's what I did:

I found 2 brand new teddies at a yard sale the other week. I find lots of good stuff, but I don't always give it to my kids right away. I hung onto these and they worked perfectly for this activity.

Here is a picture of the bears I bought for $1.00 each. I was so lucky they had 2!

I wanted to create an actual "Bear Hunt" in our house for the Peanuts to find the hidden bears. This will definitely keep them busy for awhile!  

First, I created a Wanted poster showing a picture of one of the bears and a brief description. 

 

If you don't use Photoshop, you can just do a simple line drawing or download the generic one I made below:

 

http://www.4shared.com/office/cR-pKM9t/bearhunt.html

Finally, I made some clue cards for the kids to take on their hunt to find the teddies. Below is the one I made, but you could just hand write your own on basic notecards. I made the clues sequential. The first clue was, "Where do you take a bath?" then place your next card in that location (the bathtub). The next clue might be, "Where does Daddy keep his keys?" and so on. 

So the Peanuts set off on their Bear Hunt with the poster and first clue in hand. It went great because Emmy practiced her reading with the clues and they found each new clue together. They ended the hunt with 2 new teddies and they loved working together to find them!