Love Teddy Bears? 101 Best Bear-Themed Activities for Kids

Does your child love teddy bears? If so, chances are you’ve thrown a lot of bear birthday parties and heard the song “Teddy Bear Picnic” more often than the artists who actually recorded it. When your kid has a passion, it helps to steer into the skid — run with it and enjoy where it takes you.

So if your kid does love teddy bears, before you throw your 300th birthday party for a stuffed animal and his friends, here are 101 more fabulous ways for parents and nannies to make it fun and educational with activities for you and your child:

1. Start your day with teddy-bear toast.
2. Practice table manners using a bear as an example.
3. Dress up your bear for a photo shoot.
4. Make a cardboard bear den.
5. Play bear hospital.
6. Hide bears around the house and go on a bear hunt.
7. Visit Build-a-Bear to make a new stuffed friend.
8. Practice math concepts by counting and sorting bears.
9. Sort gummy bears by color, then enjoy them.
   
10. Learn how to draw a teddy bear together.
11. Practice your bear roar.
12. Watch the “Little Bear” cartoon.
13. Read along with an audiobook recording of “Winnie the Pooh.”
14. Learn about the letter “B” for bear.
15. Make a bear paper bag puppet.
16. Give each member of the family a bear that matches his or her personality.
17. Put bears in order from biggest to smallest.
18. Act out the song “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.”
19. Make teddy-bear masks.
20. Turn nap time into hibernating time.
21. Paint a picture of your favorite bear and frame it.
22. Make a play-dough teddy bear.
23. Hold a teddy-bear relay race.
24. Print out teddy-bear coloring pages.
25. Make a bear-cave pillow fort.
26. Visit the library and research bears.
27. Make an obstacle course your child can do with his bear.
28. Make paper-bag bear claws.
29. Watch bear-themed movies.
30. Make bear-hunt binoculars with cardboard tubes and tape.
31. Have a teddy-bear tea party outside.
32. Make bear pizzas.
33. Play on a trampoline with the bears.
34. Make a teddy bear out of an old glove.
35. Eat Teddy Grahams.
36. Create a bear print path for kids to follow to find a “beary” special treasure.
37. Make mini teddies using pom-poms, white glue and googly eyes.
38. Chant and act out “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around.”
39. Take videos of your child playing with his favorite bear.
40. Make up stories about your favorite bear.
41. Learn letters with the Feed the Bear activity with a paper-bag bear.
42. Perform mad-science gummy-bear experiments.
43. Make Jell-O gummy teddy bears.
44. Create a mini indoor playground for your bears.
45. Play school with your bears.
46. Pack a little bag and take your bear on an imaginary trip.
47. Take your teddy bear for a walk in a stroller.
48. Decorate a cardboard box, add a pull string and tote your bear in a homemade wagon.
49. Cut out pictures from kids’ catalogs and parenting magazines and make a bear-themed collage.
50. Visit Common Sense Media’s list of bear movies for kids.
51. Check out Amazon.com’s list of best-selling bear books for kids.
52. Take your teddy bear to the zoo to meet his relatives.
53. Visit a local chocolate shop and craft a chocolate bear.
54. Make bear-shaped pancakes for breakfast.
55. Make a teddy-bear paper-doll chain.
56. Craft teddy-bear sock puppets from old baby socks.
57. Bake bear-shaped sugar cookies.
58. Make teddy-bear cupcakes.
59. Set a place at the table for teddy (bears always eat their fruits and veggies!).
60. Read “Where’s My Teddy?” by Jez Alborough.
61. Act out the “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” story.
62. Make a teddy-bear finger puppet family out of a mismatched glove. Great to keep in your purse for an anytime boredom-buster activity.
63. Have your child practice reading out loud to her teddy bear.
64. Write and illustrate a picture book about adventures with your child’s teddy bear.
65. Create a world for your child’s bears out of recycled boxes.
66. Make a bear-ear headband to wear around the house.
67. Take photos of your child with his bear when you travel. Put the pictures in a special photo album.
68. Write an acrostic poem with your child using the letters in “teddy bear.”
69. Visit the circus to see real live bears.
70. Watch live bear-cam footage from a national park.
71. Introduce your children to “Yogi Bear” cartoons and practice your Yogi impression.
72. Invite friends over with their bears for a teddy-bear party with bear-themed snacks and crafts.
73. Add counting bears to a sensory box filled with sand or water.
74. Have a winter hibernation pajama party.
75. Wear teddy-bear pajamas to match your favorite bear.
76. Use a tape measure or ruler to measure and compare teddy bears.
77. Compose a song together about your child’s bear and record a music video.
78. Cut out a cardboard bear shape, punch holes and practice lacing using a long shoelace.
79. Dress your bear in old baby clothes.
80. Have a bear and child fashion show with a runway, music and emcee.
81. Bake bear biscuits using one biscuit for the head and cut the other for the ears and nose. Use raisins for the eyes and nose.
82. Play hibernation freeze dance. Dance until the music stops, then lie down and hibernate. Jump up and dance again when the music comes back on.
83. Play online games about teddy bears.
84. Practice reading, writing or spelling by labeling a picture of a teddy bear: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc.
85. Recite the “Round and round the garden” rhyme.
86. Print a photo of your child’s favorite bear or print an illustration and turn it into a puzzle.
87. Write down a phrase like: “My Favorite Teddy Bear” and see how many words of three or more letters you can make using the letters from that phrase.
88. Print and color a teddy-bear mask.
89. Learn more about the lovable character Baby Bear on “Sesame Street.”
90. Make a teddy-bear costume for Halloween.
91. Play pin-the-nose-on-the-teddy-bear.
92. Read “Corduroy” and make a button necklace.
93. Make a teddy-bear growth chart to measure your child year after year.
94. Organize a honey-pot hunt, hiding pretend honey pots for kids to find.
95. Create a matching memory game with pictures of your child’s favorite bears.
96. Download teddy bear-themed apps.
97. Make teddy-bear cake pops.
98. Create a teddy bear-themed playlist to listen to in the car.
99. Dress up like Winnie the Pooh together.
100. Practice language-arts skills by having your child draw a picture of a favorite bear, then write down adjectives that describe him.
101. Tell your child stories about a teddy bear or special stuffed friend you had when you were a child.

Your little one’s teddy-bear love may transition to a passion for superheroes, basketball, video games or science exploration as she grows. If you’re looking for new toys to introduce, try Great Toys for 3-Year-Olds.

Tell us about the cutest thing your kid ever did with a teddy bear in the comments below.

Cara Stevens is a freelance writer living in Connecticut with her husband and two children. She has authored several books for children and writes frequently about parenting, hair care, DIY crafts, food and healthy living.