One of my earliest memories in school is visiting the zoo. The only animal I remember vividly from my first grade trip is the bear! We had to walk over a bridge and peer down at these massive black beasts. There were tin pieces wrapped around the trunks of every tree so that the bears could not climb out of their enclosure. I was very worried! But now I've found that friendly crafts lessen the fear and calm the nerves of kids when they are frightened. There are so many kinds of bears and this activity allows for choices. Kids can create a polar bear, grizzly, panda, or a black bear! And it is always fun to use out of the box materials to paint with, like forks! Younger kids really get a kick out of that!
Total Time: 40 minutes to make and a few hours to dry
Yield: 4 different bears
Source: Pinterest and Google images had a grizzly and panda bear, respectively. I tried the polar and black bears to see how they'd look.
Supplies:
- 2 sheets construction paper (1 black and 1 white)
- fingerpaint (white, black, brown, red, and pink)
- 4-5 paint brushes
- scissors
- 1-3 forks (I rinsed and reused one.)
- 8 wiggle eyes
- hot glue gun with stick
Steps:
- Cut the two sheets of construction paper in half. First, place white paint on the back of a fork. The small jars I use make it easy to dip a brush in paint and add it to the fork. You can also pour the paint in a paper plate and dip the fork in it. Draw a nose or put a dot in the center of the black paper. Take the fork with paint and go all the way around the dot you drew. You'll have to add paint to the fork several times. Make the prongs face outward to create the fur look.
- Once you have gone around the center dot, you can fill in the middle with more fork prints or a paint brush. Then use a brush to paint white ears. Allow to dry.
- Use a brush to add pink paint to the ears. Paint the nose and mouth with brown, black, and red. Then glue on the wiggle eyes!
- For the black bear, use white paper. After the black paint dries, add the inside of the ears and nose with brown paint. Then use black for the nose tip and red for the tongue. Glue on the eyes! This one turned out to be my favorite! I think it looks the most like a bear.
- For the Grizzly bear, I did end up using pink construction paper inside the ears. Pink paint wouldn't show up that well. It's easier to cut out an oval and then cut it in half.
- For the panda, I'm glad the black paint I used was darker than my black paper. Next time, I might try bamboo green paper instead. Paint the white face just like with the polar bear. After it dries, paint on black ears, eye patches, and the nose/mouth area. Don't forget the tongue! Allow to dry again. Glue on the eyes!
