Ask Mr Bear is a quaint story of a little boy wondering what to give to his mother for her birthday. He asks all the animals on the farm, but doesn’t get any real inspiration until he talks to Mr Bear who suggests he gives her a hug! This post contains all the lovely activities we did during this Ask Mr Bear Homeschool Book Unit.
Whenever I do a homeschool book unit I always try to find a theme around which I can plan the week. The week was all about farms.
Books to go along with Ask Mr Bear
I use these extra books in a variety of ways. Firstly, they become the little one’s bedtime reading. We snuggle up together whilst I read. My favourite time of the day. Warm bodies from a lovely hot bath, one either side, milk in hand. Seriously, best time. Secondly, they are also available in the morning whilst the older ones are doing their chores. And lastly they are popped into their quiet time baskets to use after lunch.
The older children also often take time to read to the little ones:
Play Dough in the Morning
In the mornings the younger two, especially Becs, play with play dough. Each week I make a play dough mat by photocopying the front page of the main book, in this case, Ask Mr Bear. The children like trying to recreate the cover by placing similar coloured dough on top of the drawing:
Dress-Up and Drama/Pretend Play
I had a thick blanket which looked very much like a sheep fleece and I also had a sheep mask. Becs was wholly unimpressed but Abs loved it and spent much time with the dress up on her and baaaa-ing everyone in her near vicinity
We had bought a play farmyard for Becs’ second birthday, which they have thoroughly enjoyed playing with all week. I LOVE Melissa and Doug toys. They are simple, wholesome and great for encouraging imaginative play:
Themed Tray Activities
Tray activities are a staple in our homeschool. I use new, small cat litter trays, which are the perfect size for preschool play, containing the activities, yet giving them enough room to play.
Duplo Lego Read and Build
This Duplo Lego book with accompanying blocks was such a great find. We look through the book together or the girls look at it alone, and then they build the farm animals, one at a time, as they crop up in the book:
And sometimes a big sister or brother comes along for a play:
Farm Puzzle
The next tray was a puzzle I bought from a charity shop for practically nothing! It’s a great puzzle for little hands:
Farm Dominoes
These farm animal dominoes were a perfect addition to our tray activities, and because they require two people, the girls could rope their big sisters in again ❤️
I love seeing my older children give up their time to help their little sisters learn. They do it so enthusiastically too!
Markers and Stamps
Another charity shop find, markers of any sort are always a hit in our house, so the girls loved these farm animal shaped markers. Along with some smaller Melissa and Doug stamps and some blank farm paper to stamp onto, these were a perfect tray activity:
Becs particularly loved the animal markers which were perfect for her tiny hands:
Farmyard Puzzle
As you can see, this puzzle has done the rounds! We kept it from the older ones’ younger years because they enjoyed playing with it so much:
In fact, the older girls still enjoy putting it together!
Collage Making
These farmyard cut-outs came from Asda and were very inexpensive. I think these would be easy to replicate using bits and pieces around the house and perhaps cutting out the animal shapes from a cereal box. At this age, the girls do not notice the dazzle of bought art supplies:
Really anything messy, colourful and sticky goes down a treat:
Other impromptu activities included stickers and animal sponge stamps:
Animals Around the World
I try to make the puzzle of the world with the little ones at every opportunity. Here we were matching farm animals with similar animals on the map to see where the farm animals lived:
Ask Mr Bear Farm Themed Snacks
1. Chicken Feed (!)
2. Pigs in Blankets
3. If you happen to have a birthday, then buy a Mr Bear shaped cake and palm it off as a snack!
4. As I didn’t do a muffin tin meal with lots of wonderful farm shapes, I decided to do a mini muffin tin snack tray:
Farm Themed Muffin Tin Meal
This weeks muffin tin comes from Charlotte who did it all by herself:
We decided to do a muffin tin containing all the things you would find produced on a farm. At the same time we thought this particular muffin tin meal would sit quite proudly on a farmer’s table!
Charlotte cooked bacon strips, mini sausages, toast cut up into mini rectangles, scrambled egg, mini tomatoes, baked beans and fried mini button mushrooms. The little ones LOVED it and everything disappeared in minutes!
Ask Mr Bear Field Trip
We took a trip to the farm for Becs’ birthday, so that she would have the opportunity to see many animals she’d learnt about but never seen in real life before. Becs loves all types of animals and is not scared at all. She had a ball!
This was an incredible week full to the brim with fun activities, fun food and culminating in a really fun field trip. I hope you can find lots of ideas to use with your own children.