Small world play goes on a bear hunt!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

                                                                                                                                    By Michael Rosen

We have been loving this children's classic for a while, the repetition of the book means that they all now know it off by heart and chunks of the book can regularly be heard chanted around the house.

Our last trip to the local forest resulted in an impromptu hunt of our very own. (Posted HERE) which the kids absolutely loved but we really wanted to combine their love of this book with their love of small world play (Blogged about HERE and HERE). My 2 year old in particular is particularly fond of small world now that her imagination is developing into a world of wonder and I really want to encourage this further. The use of books and small world promotes this perfectly!

Creating the bear hunt was also a great sensory/ messy play activity for my 1 year old to get involved in too as the trays used for the little people were also perfect size for little hands! 

An activity that holds the attention of children from 1 year old to 6 years old and beyond and all for free is always a winner with me.

And here it is: (Please excuse the poor photo quality. My beloved camera was beaten, sucked, slobbered on and dropped one time too many by my 1 year old so the old phone has had to step up to the plate temporarily but you get the idea)

So all set with their compass, map and rather large magnifying glass, the little people set about their Bear hunt!

The journey ahead of them....

First obstacle....Long wavy grass!!!
Which is just that! The kids toddled off to the garden to pick handfuls of the lawn.

Next up is the deep cold river.

Water and blue food colouring to be exact!

 Splash Splosh, Splash Splosh, Splash Splosh

Ooozy mud up next.

We would have used literally that, mud from the garden, but as my 1 year old was playing I opted for the edible version of cocoa powder, flour and a small amount of water to make a really stodgy, thick consistency. No panic if when little hands end up in mouths after wards!

Squelch Squerch, Squelch Squerch, Squelch Squerch

And then - UH-UH A Forest, a big dark Forest!!!!

Easy peasy, twigs and leaves from the garden.

And then the Swirling, Whirling Snowstorm....

A great 'Secret' for creating fake snow I found on another blog some time ago and I cannot remember which one to credit to but thank you as it is just perfect. The inside of a nappy in some water - Genius!!! Try it, really is fab and the kids loved it. After this they used it with the bear as a Polar bear in the north pole.

WHATS THIS???
A BEAR....in a gloomy, narrow cave...
OR a large beaker ;-)

So all in all this cost me nothing. I already have nappies in, flour and cocoa from the cupboard and other bits from the garden.
The trays were perfect size for the little people and were just some packaging from vegetables in the supermarket I'd collected over the week.

It is a great activity to take outdoors to get as messy as you like & chalk the wording along side the trays on the pavement or if it is a rainy day like we had today, not too surprising (!), then we did it on the kitchen floor on a wooden board. Easy peasy to clean away after wards which is what we like eh!

NOW, next activity, this ^^ but on a much bigger scale for the kids to jump in. Watch this space!