Stamping Patterns
Use polar animal rubber stamps to create a simple patterm on the top half of a piece of paper. Ask your child to help you recreate the pattern on the bottom half of the paper. Tip: Start with one stamp, and have your child pick which stamp you used. Start slowly and work your way up to more complicated patterns.

What time is it Mr. Bear?
Played like What time is it Mr. Fox?

Penguin Hop
Play the bunny hop song and have the children pretend to be penguins hopping around.

Torn Paper Snow Pictures
Supply the children with a full sheet of blue paper and half sheet of white paper. Ask them to make a winter scene by tearing pieces of the white paper and gluing them onto the blue paper. Small amounts of other colored paper may be used.

Torn Paper Igloos
Supply the children with a full sheet of blue paper and half sheet of white paper. Ask them to make an igloo by tearing pieces of the white paper and gluing them onto the blue paper.

Torn Paper Polar Animals
Supply the children with a full sheet of blue paper and half sheet of white paper. Ask them to make polar bear or penguin by tearing pieces of the white paper and gluing them onto the blue paper. Small amounts of other colored paper may be used.

Sticker Art
Supply the children with stickers of polar animals and have them place them on a piece of white paper to make a polar scene.

Stamp Art
Supply the children with stamps of polar animals and have them make a polar scene with the stamps.

Paint like a polar animal
Supply the children with paper and paint and have the children paint like a seal or penguin might paint. You may want to have them put a pair of clean socks on their hands to help them imagine not having fingers to use.

Sponge Art
Supply the children with sponges of polar animals and paint and have them make a polar scene with them.

You will need a honey bottle bear-shaped (cleaned out), food coloring, bleach and a dropper.
Once upon a time there was a beautiful white polar bear that often visited the St. Lawrence Island in Alaska. Now on this island, you find a little schoolhouse filled with many boys and girls and their beloved teacher, Ms. Andrews.
It seems as though a neighboring child from Siberia ventured across the Bering Strait to St. Lawrence Island. Her name was Tatiana, and she had beautiful golden hair. As she explored the island, she soon met Mr. Polar Bear. The children watched out the windows of the schoolhouse as the bear wished he had golden hair like Tatiana's. He shut his eyes tightly and wished very hard for golden hair.
Now will you just shut your eyes for a moment and help polar bear make his wish?
(take a dropper and drop 2 drops of yellow food coloring into the bottle)
Now you may open your eyes! AMAZING!
A blond polar bear- Oh, my goodness! Do you know what the children shouted out the windows of the schoolhouse? Do you think they liked a BLOND polar bear? ( get children to slap, slap, clap, clap, and snap and say:)
POLAR BEAR, POLAR BEAR
YOU ARE A SIGHT!
YOUR COLOR WAS RIGHT
WHEN YOU WERE WHITE!
Mr. Polar Bear was MIGHTY SAD! He thought the children would like his new golden color! He climbed on an iceberg and began to think about his problem.
Now, as Mr. Bear rested, he caught a new scent in the air. What did he smell? As he raised his head and looked around, he saw a young boy coming closer.
Rene was from the GREEN forests of Canada. He wore a green hat, a green sweater, green pants, and green boots. Guess what he had in his pocket? Rene had a GREEN lollipop! Polar Bear thought GREEN must be the most beautiful color in the world! Maybe he should be a green bear. He shut his eyes and began to wish he was green. Can you help Mr. Bear?
(put 2 drops of blue in)
Now he was a GREEN polar bear!! But the children said
(slap, slap...repeat chant above)
Now this made Mr. Bear feel real bad. He pouted and pouted. Polar bear began to walk across the snow. As he topped a big snow drift, he met COUSIN BROWN BEAR from Kodiak Island. Cousin Brown Bear had followed the path of green tears that cam from polar bear. The two bears had a nice, long visit and before long, Polar Bear began to admire his SMART COUSIN. The Kodiak Bear is the world's largest bear and gets angry very quickly. Polar Bear thinks maybe the children would like him if he were brown instead. Let's shut our eyes and wish with Polar Bear.
( add 2 drops of red, and repeat chant above)
Polar Bear felt so bad, he ran away from the children and dove in the ice cold waters of the Bering Sea. Polar bears are the best swimmers of all bears. His thick, heavy fur was now BROWN and looked quite strange as the children of Gambel watched him swim DEEP, DEEP, DEEP into the sea. Now, if you will just shut your eyes and think about Polar Bear swimming around under the cold, cold water, a tiny bit of Alaska magic might happen.
( add bleach to the water, while their eyes are closed, continue to talk about polar bear swimming while the bleach takes effect)
Polar Bear swims up, up, up,up, to the surface and guess what!
(chant)
POLAR BEAR, POLAR BEAR
Your color IS right!
WE LOVE YOU!
WE LOVE YOU!
YOU ARE WHITE!
Polar Bear decided NEVER to change his color again. After all, polar bears are supposed to be WHITE, RIGHT? The End

To make the blubber glove, use two zip lock plastic bags and fill one with Crisco (about 1 cup). Use the other bag to place on top of the Crisco so the students are not touching the Crisco. Attempt to zip together by having the top one inside out.
A bowl should be filled with water and ice, and the teacher should guide the students in putting the glove on and putting their hand in the water. Tell them to pretend they are polar bears ready to dive into the cold icy water.
Students may touch water with one hand before or after using the glove to compare the difference of having the glove on and not having it on.

Polar Bears...
Cut out the shape of a polar bear and glue on cotton. Glue coconut onto the cotton as fur.

White bags. Cut two bear shapes for each child. Staple the bear shapes together along the edge, leaving the top of the head open. Have the children stuff the bears with newspaper or tissue paper. After the bears are stuffed, staple the top of the heads shut. Add facial features with a block crayon.

Water and Ice...
Paint with ice cubes by freezing ice cubes with tempera paint added for color.

Ice Fishing...
Prepare paper cut-outs of fish. Make the fish all different sizes and colors. Place a paper clip on each fish. Put the fish in a box with a hole in the top. The children are going to go ice fishing. Place a magnet on a string to fish with.Have the children describe the fish that they catch.

Ice Cave...
Turn the block center into an ice cave for the children. Hang long pieces of white butcher-block paper around the edges of the center. Put blue butcher-block paper on the walls. Then add blue and white streamers hanging from the ceiling. Put blue nap mats on the floor. Painted some of the blocks white or wrap them in white paper (the kids love to build igloos) Add cotton balls and added stuffed polar bears, seals, fish, penguins etc.

Comparisons
Students compare themselves to polar bears (homes, food, weather, and activities). Make a book to show comparisons.

Role play
Pretend to be an animal in Antarctica. Tell humans about your fears for your life and continent.

If you are lucky enough to get snow this is a fun way to get your class ready to go play in it. Tell your parents that you will be going out in the snow and to pack all their snow clothes. As you read the story The Jacket I wear in the Snow, have the children put each item of clothing on...when the story is finished it is time to go out in the snow and have some fun!

Try this camouflage activity: Scatter colored toothpicks in the grass near your school, and give children a few minutes to pick up as many as possible. Graph the results. Ask "Why did you find fewer green toothpicks?"

Tell children they are going to make a polar bear painting. Provide each child with a piece of white drawing paper and a white bear cutout. Help children glue the cutout to the paper. Use only ONE drop of glue. Ask "Is seeing the polar bear on the white paper easy or hard?"

Distribute sponges and paint and have students sponge paint around the bear cutout to the edge of the paper. Let the paintings dry and peel off the bear cutout. Ask "Is seeing the polar bear on the colored paper easy or hard?" Discuss with students where polar bears live and why they are white. Children can then complete their paintings by adding a face with black crayon.

Footprint Bear
put white paint on child's foot and make a footprint on a piece of paper. With toes facing down, have child glue precut white ear shapes on either side of the heel. Then glue black nose shape in the arch area. Lastly, glue eyes above the nose. Finished product is soooo cute .

We made Polar Bears out of white lunch bags and then used them with the song "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Touch the Ground". Of course we changed the words to Polar Bear, Polar Bear!

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Math and Science

Would a bear be a good pet?
Have the children vote if a polar bear would be a good pet. Record the results on a graph. What is the result? Discuss with the children that a bear would not be a good pet and reasons why. I.e.. claws, eat a lot of food, they don't like humans, they might hurt us.

Polar Animal Shape Match Up
There are many ways to set this up depending on the skill level or the particular skill you wish to work on. Try these different set ups:
(Use your own Polar Animal Shapes... Penguin, Seal, Bear etc)

• Cut out Polar Animal Shapes from different colors of paper. Give each child one Polar Animal Shape. Ask the children to find one person with the same color Polar Animal Shape.
• Cut out Polar Animal Shapes from different colors of paper. Cut the Polar Animal Shapes in half using a puzzle type cut, like zig zag or interlocking pieces. Give each child one half of a Polar Animal Shape, and ask them to find the person with the other half. Or Give the children two pieces and have the children make a circle, with one child that has one match on one side and the other match on the other side. You may end up with 2 or more circles depending on how the Polar Animal Shape pieces are distributed.
• Cut out Polar Animal Shapes from one color of paper. Cut the Polar Animal Shapes in half using a puzzle type cut, like zig zag or interlocking pieces. Give each child one half of a Polar Animal Shape, and ask them to find the person with the other half.
  Or Give the children two pieces and have the children make a circle, with one child that has one match on one side and the other match on the other side. You may end up with 2 or more circles depending on how the Polar Animal Shape pieces are distributed.
• Cut the Polar Animal Shapes from one color of paper. Label one set of Polar Animal Shapes with numbers, i.e. if you have 20 children; label the Polar Animal Shapes with the numbers one to ten. The other half, draw one dot on one, two on another, and so on until ten. Give each child one Polar Animal Shape and have them find the child with their match.
• Cut the Polar Animal Shapes from one color of paper. Place matching stickers on two Polar Animal Shapes. Give each child one Polar Animal Shape and have them find the child with their match.
• Cut the Polar Animal Shapes from one color of paper. Cut the Polar Animal Shapes in half using a puzzle type cut, like zig zag or interlocking pieces. Place matching stickers on each half of a Polar Animal Shape. Give each child one Polar Animal Shape half and have them find the child with their match.
• Place matching Polar Animal stickers on separate index cards. Give each child a card and ask them to find the child with their match.
• Try all the above, but in a file folder format. Glue one part of the Polar Animal Shape to the file folder and laminate it's match.
• Cut four or five different Polar Animal Shapes from different colors of paper. Give each child one Polar Animal Shape and have them form groups depending on what color they have... red animals here... or have them form groups depending on what animal they have.. penguins here.

Polar Animal Hide and Seek
Have all the children hide their eyes while you "hide" a polar animal in the room. (It should be placed in plain view) Tell the children to find the polar animal, but not touch it. Once they spot it they should sit back down in their spot. The first one to sit down again will get to hide the polar animal.

Polar Animal Hide and Seek
Play the game the same as above, except hide the polar animal. Then tell the children individually whether they are "hot" or "cold" to the relation of the polar animal. Allow the other children to have a change to hide the polar animal, and tell children whether they are "hot or cold". It may be a good idea to discuss the meaning of hot and cold before you play this game.

Polar Animal Shape Fishing Game
Tie 3 feet of string to a wooden spoon. Attach a magnet to the end of the string. Cut and laminate many different colored polar animal shapes from construction paper (not too big though). Attach a paper clip to each polar animal shape. Spread the polar animal shapes on the floor and let your child try to catch the polar animal shape. Have them try to catch the star or the biggest tree. For a twist, label the polar animal shapes with letters or numbers.

Polar Animal Sizing
Cut out many different sized polar animal. Ask the children to line up the polar animal from largest to smallest.

Polar Animal Numbers
Cut out ten shapes. Number them one to ten. Ask the children to line up the shapes from one to ten.

Polar Animal Colors
Ask the children to sort the shapes by color.

Polar Animal Sort:
Supply the children with plenty of polar animal shapes of many sizes and colors. Ask the children to sort the shapes by size, color or type.

Ideas ( for plastic polar animals)

• Have the children sort the animals by size.
• Have the children sort the animals by the kind they like the best to least.
• Buy two or more sets and have the children sort the animals by type.
• Supply the children with a balance and let them experiment.
• Have the children count the animals.
• Supply the children with cards with numbers on them. Large playing cards work well. Have the children place the appropriate number of animals on each card. I.e. 4 animals on the card that has a 4 (or 4 of diamonds) on it.
• Put snow in your sand and water table (or clean dish pan) and let the children play with the animals.
• Put the polar animals in the block area, encourage the children to create mountains and glaciers with the blocks for the animals to live and play on.
• Supply the children with paint and white paper, and give them a figure of a polar animal. Have them dip the animal’s feet in the paint them press on the paper to make polar animal tracks.

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Songs and Fingerplays

Play a game of Polar Bears and Penguins
I divide the class into two teams. One team is the polar bears, the other is the penguins. This is actually a game very similar to Wheel of Fortune. I think of a word that has to do with the polar theme. I put dashes on the marker board to show how many letters are there on the board. For instance, if the word is Arctic, I put 6 dashes on the board. The kids take turn guessing letters. The first team to guess the word correctly gets a point.

Adapted song from the Winter PA book:
I'm a little brown (polar) bear
Looking for some honey (fish?).
Little polar bear
Looking kind of funny (Making this one wish?).
I left my cave looking for some trees,
But all I found were some honeybees!
I'm a little polar bear
Looking for some fish.
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!
Make other substitutions such as rocks and dirty old socks, Ew! Ew! Ew!

Writing spin off to the song above: Have children brainstorm rhyming words and do a class book with the following writing frame: I left my cave looking for a box, but all I found was a sly red fox! I left my cave looking for a hole, but all I found was a little gray mole.

In winter book are arctic animal pictures to put on paper bags. Have kids sort pictures /p/,/s/, & /b/ into correct bags.

Good food picture cards to go with P eating activity for Penguin Pete.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear (Twinkle)
Polar bear
What do you hear?
I hear a /p/ sound in my ear.
Do you hear a /p/ in fish?
No, there's not a /p/ in fish.
Do you hear a /p/ in penguin?
Yes, I hear a /p/ in penguin.
Additional verses: Change polar bear to other arctic animals and their letters.

Teddy Bear
In place of Teddy Bear use other kinds of bears - brown -black - grizzly - polar or panda. Add different actions and words to go with different bears. Make it a game of "follow the leader" using different commands of things to do (think of things real bears do - swim-fish- pick berries- rub their backs on trees-bear hugs . make it a fun game!! Ask the children for ideas of actions.

_____ Bear, _____ Bear, turn around.
_____ Bear, _____ Bear, touch the ground.
_____ Bear, _____ Bear, climb a tree.
_____ Bear, _____ Bear, what do you see!
_____ Bear, _____ Bear, go to the mountain.
_____ Bear, _____ Bear. climb up high
_____ Bear, _____ Bear, touch the sky.
_____ Bear, _____ Bear. run to your cave.
_____ Bear, _____ Bear, remember to behave.

Another adaption:
Polar bear, polar bear, turn around,
Polar bear, polar bear, touch the ground,
Polar bear, polar bear, show your shoe,
Polar bear, polar bear, that will do.

Polar bear, polar bear, bend your knee,
Polar bear, polar bear, climb the tree,
Polar bear, polar bear, make a frown,
Polar bear, polar bear, sit right down.

Polar bear, polar bear, stand on your toes,
Polar bear, polar bear, touch your nose,
Polar bear, polar bear, wink your eye,
Polar bear, polar bear, say good bye.

Puppets are always a great addition to any dramatic play area; add a stuffed polar animals for the children to play with.
Provide plastic balls for the children to try to balance on their noses
Have the children pretend to be penguins and waddle.

Polar Bear
Polar Bear, Polar Bear,
Turn around.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear,
Touch the ground.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear,
Shine your shoes.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, Skidoo.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear,
Go upstairs.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear,
Say your prayers.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear,
Turn out the light.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear,
Say good night.

Marco the Polar Bear
(make circle in front of body with arms)
White as the snow
(extend out arms proudly)
Sat down in the ice]
(sit down)
Near the cold water’s flow
(shiver)
“Lunch, I need lunch”, he said
(rub tummy)
“I’ll make a wish”
(put hands together to make a wish)
He stuck in his paw
(put right hand down)
And came up with a fish!
(put right thumb up and smile)

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