The Very Cranky Bear

I love this book and the project we did to go along with it.  I may even love it more than the kids do; they had fun though.  Actually, we did this project a week ago and they are still playing with the bears.  The bears have become friendly with the paper dolls C and R made recently (you will see those tomorrow) and they are all having a grand old time.

The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland is about four friends (a zebra, a lion, a moose, and a sheep) who find a cave on a cold, rainy day, and decide to play in there.  They were completely unaware that the cave was occupied by a very cranky bear!  After the bear roared them right out of that cave, they decided to cheer him up by giving him stripes, antlers, and a mane.  The sheep doesn't think she has anything to give so she waits outside the cave.  The bear was not happy with his new features and told the friends that he only wanted to sleep.  Well, that thoughtful little sheep had something to share after all; she clipped off some of her wool and stuffed a cotton bag to make a pillow for the bear who was finally able to sleep.

I drew two cranky bear shapes on cereal boxes (I love to use cereal boxes for crafts because they are sturdy but not too thick!).  C and R colored the bears brown and glued on googly eyes and button noses.  They added masking tape stripes, raffia pieces for the mane, and I hot glued some sticks they found in the yard for antlers.

They also folded half of a sheet of construction paper and glued some cotton balls on the inside to make the pillows for their bears.

Look at how happy C's bear is on his nice new pillow.  I love it.