A Little Bear Party

The Little Bear books are written by Else Holmelund and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, and are available at Amazon. The character also has a loyal following of preschoolers who watch his adventures on Noggin. Perhaps your toddler is asking for a Little Bear party.

Well, at this time, there aren’t official Little Bear party supplies, but you can certainly use the colors from the show and books to bring Little Bear’s world alive. Purchase light green, brown, and blue balloons, streamers, and tableware.

Nickelodeon Jr. has printables that the kids can color when they arrive at the party.

In one story, Little Bear thinks his mother has forgotten his birthday so he sets out to make a special treat called birthday soup. Have your guests make their own birthday soup. Lay out all sorts of ingredients, such as sugar, salt, beans, veggies, and fruits, and have the kids mix them together. This can be a real recipe that they eat or something fun just to throw together. Mother Bear, of course, surprises Little Bear with a fantastic birthday cake, so make sure to serve up something special!

Little Bear doesn’t need any clothes to keep warm because his fur does exactly that. The kids can have a relay race around this concept. Divide the kids into two teams, and have them race across the room to put on a scarf, gloves, hat, and coat to keep warm. After putting on their “fur coats,” they must race back to their teams, pass on the clothes to the next player, and so on. The first team done, wins!

Read several of these classic stories to the kids.

“Little Bear Goes to the Moon” is another story in the series. Play Musical Moons like Musical Chairs. Cut out large moon shapes and place them on the floor for the kids to step on as the music plays.

Have the kids make their own Little Bears using Play-Doh.

Make up a menu full of beary good favorites: scones with honey and jam, Teddy Graham crackers, apple slices with peanut butter, gummy bear candies, Jell-O Jigglers cut out into bear shapes, and bear trail mix (Teddy Grahams, yogurt-covered raisins, and Honeycomb cereal).

Make a simple batch of teddy bear cupcakes.

For a favor, have the kids take home a batch of bear trail mix, a bear notebook and brown pencil (make sure to write a beary good wish inside to your guests), and a small honey pot.

Sweet Little Bear.