Enjoy making this cute little talking bear hand puppet!

 

You will need:

Bear templates (see below)

A paper bag with a gusset

Gold / light brown paint

Paint brush

Googly eyes

Glue

 

Procedure

Cut out bear template.

Glue your bear’s stomach onto the paper bag.  Glue your bears arms and legs in place, gently slipping them behind the bear’s stomach.

Cut along the dotted line on your bear’s head and glue the top portion onto the base of the paper bag.  Glue the bears chin in place, on top of the bear’s stomach.  Make sure you line up your bear’s mouth so there are no gaps!

Paint your bear.

Glue on the googly eyes.

Now you have a talking paper bag puppet bear!

 

Teaching Points:

This activity can be used for the traditional tale of Goldilocks and the three bears.

For grief and loss – a puppet figure could be useful to establish rapport with a child as questions and grief therapy can be guided towards the bear figure, which could be less threatening for the child as they project their feelings and emotions onto the puppet.

Show aspects of a narrative – Orientation (who, when, where), Events, Complication, Resolution, Ending

Talk about the beginning and endings of traditional tales.  For example many begin with ‘Once upon a time…’, ‘It was long ago and…’ or ‘In a faraway land…’   Many endings end with ‘..and they lived happily ever after’ or  ‘…and so the story goes’.

Folktales are stories passed down orally from one generation to another and are stories that teach a lesson.  Lessons that can be seen in Goldilocks and the three bears include perseverance, resilience to keep going in the face of hardship, and family unity and strength.

This bear could be used in a reader’s theatre activity.

 

Links to the Australian Curriculum:

 http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/English/Curriculum/F-10

Foundation Year

Literature and Context:

Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences that may be similar or different to students’ own experiences (ACELT1575)

Responding to Literature

Share feelings and thoughts about the events and characters in texts (ACEL1783)

General Capabilities

Literacy / Personal and Social Capability

Examining Literature

Recognise some different types of literary texts and identify some characteristic features of literary texts, for example beginnings and endings of traditional texts and rhyme in poetry

Modes

Listening / Reading / Speaking

 

Bear Head Template    Bear head and legs

Bear Body Template   Bear Body

 

For more information about grief and loss  for children please  visit  blueskiestomorrow.com