After making our bear caves we used them to play an ABC game. We made a quick blue lake out of construction paper and filled it with ABC fish (magnetic letters).
FIND EVEN MORE FOREST THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR
PRINTABLE PRESCHOOL LESSON PLANS.
Then the kids took turns being the bear. On their turn they would GROWL as loud as they could and then say, “I’m hungry for a G (or any letter) fish! They LOVED being the bear, and they were pretty convincing.
After “the bear” growled and said what kind of fish to look for, the other child found the letter and put it in the bear cave.
This was a really fun way to practice letter recognition and taking turns.
This game could also be modified to practice other skills by including:
- magnetic numbers to practice number recognition
- colored pom poms to practice color recognition
- sight word cards to practice sight words
After playing this game we read Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep! The story made the kids giggle, and it gave us a wonderful opportunity to talk about rhyming words. In the story bear is being told to go to sleep, but he doesn’t hear so well. Instead he thinks he hears sweep, drive a jeep, and leap, among other silly things. We acted out the bears actions in the story and discussed which words rhyme with sleep.
What games do you play to practice letter recognition? Do you have any favorite bear stories to go along with a forest or hibernation theme?
MORE FOREST FUN WITH PRINTABLE LESSON PLANS
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
This set currently includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:
1) Forest vs Ocean Animals Sorting Activity
2) Forest Animal Addition Activity
3) The Forest Emergent Reader (3 Versions)
4) Forest Roll and Graph Cube and Recording Sheet
5) “A Walk in the Forest” Math Game Board
6) Number Cubes for “A Walk in The Forest” and other Math Games (4 Versions)
7) Animal Tracks Matching Cards (in color and b/w)
8) Forest Animal Picture Cards (in color and b/w)
9) Forest Animal Pictures with Labels (in color and b/w)
10) Forest Animal Word Cards (in color and b/w)
11) Forest Animal Syllable Sorting Activity Mats
12) Forest Letter Puzzles (in color and b/w)
13) Teddy Bear Pattern Prompt Cards
GET YOUR LESSON PLANS
Home Preschool Forest Theme Lesson Plans
Preschool Classroom Forest Theme Lesson Plans
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Beth
This is such a super cute & fun activity! Thanks for linking it up at TGIF!
I featured this at TGIF today! Feel free to grab an I was featured button if you like! I hope to see you linked up again today – http://www.livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/2013/01/tgif-linky-party-60-were-back.html
Have a GREAT weekend,
Beth =-)
Shaunna
Thanks so much for featuring this game. We really enjoyed playing it. So glad TGIF is back!
Megan Bowen
This is such a great way to get them to be able to recognize each letter & to help sound them out! Thanks for posting, can’t wait to try out this fun method with our daycare kids! 🙂
Shaunna
Thanks! I hope the kids have a lot of fun with it. We did!
Tulip
Featuring you this week!
Shaunna
Yay! Thank you so much.
Tulip
So much fun and so many ways to play it. I think my daughters would like their lizard to eat the “bugs”.
Shaunna
🙂 Yes, my kids have enjoyed adding all sorts of animals. The girls also had the dolls from their dollhouse camping in the cave at one point. There are so many possibilities for learning and play.
Ashley
Wanted to let you know I am featuring this post on Mom’s Library this week!
Ashley
http://www.lifewithmoorebabies.blogspot.com
Shaunna
Thanks so much, Ashley! It was a fun game. So excited to have you share it with others.
Erin
Very fun! Thanks so much for sharing.
Debbie
Coming from Sunday Showcase… Very cute idea, I will be using it! Pinned it!
Shaunna
Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy it!
Katie @ Gift of Curiosity
Very cute idea! I found you at the Link & Learn party.
Shaunna
Thanks! The game was a lot of fun to play…for the kids and me, too!
Miss Courtney
This sounds like a great game for some letter review. Also pinning!
Shaunna
Thanks! There was a lot of giggling going on, and it was a great chance to review letter names and letter sounds. Thanks for pinning!
Ashley
What a cute game! I can think of some ways to use it for my kids too! Pinning for later!
Shaunna
Thanks! The kids enjoyed it, and I bet it could be extended many ways.