We all know and love Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr and Eric Carle. It’s a classic children’s book so beloved, that many of us grew up reading it with our parents who read it with their parents. We can all recite the book by memory with our children ad nauseam. There’s a reason why it’s a classic and continues to charm little readers to this day. Plane and simple, it’s a GREAT book. Besides the teaching of colors, there is repetition and rhythm teaching emergent readers early literacy skills. The text is simple with beautiful illustrations making it a favorite among young readers.
Beyond reading the book, there are some fun, simple to create activities you can do with your children at home. These extension activities help reinforce the skills being taught during the reading. With these activities, children have fun practicing their colors, story sequencing, and retelling of the story.
Colors:
Create a color matching board using the illustrations from the book. You could use various household items, pom poms, crayons, colored paper clips, or even just pieces of colored paper. Have your child place items in the box next to the matching color. You could also go on a scavenger hut around the house looking for matching color items. We had to search for brown and found chocolate!
I’ve created a color matching board for you to use. Simply print on card stock to make it sturdier. You may laminate them to make them more durable and last longer. Brown Bear Brown Bear Color Sorter
Act It Out:
Make puppets using black and white copies of animals from the book. Have your child color the animal according to the story. Tape the pictures to popsicle sticks and use them as stick puppets. Children may use the puppets however they’d like, retelling the story or playing with them as you read the story together. I used this template Brown Bear Puppets I found on www.teacherspayteachers.com.
Story Sequencing:
Cut out picture cards for children to retell the story by putting the animals in sequential order. You may do this together or for older kids, have them try it on their own. This of course could be done on the floor or table, but I’ve given children options to work in other spaces. One option would be to put tape on the back and have them put them in order on a wall or easel. Another option would be to put velcro tabs on the back and have children place them in order on a felt board (this would require laminating the cards). These options are not necessary, but sometimes a change in view keeps kids engaged. Here is a printable with the cards for you to use. Brown Bear Sequencing Cards
Enjoy!
