As part of our bear-themed week, we deemed an actual bear hunt a necessary activity! We are very lucky where we live as we have an amazing bear sculpture in the woods near our house, so this is quite easy for us to do, and, in fact, we go to see the bears often. However, I had hoped that on this occasion A and E would want to play “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”; instead they wanted to feed the bears healthy food, just like the bears feed Goldilocks in “Eat Your Greens, Goldilocks” (another of the books that we are learning this week). So, instead, we foraged for some healthy food for the bears; A declared that this meant we had to find green food, as green food is the healthiest! We started by digging in the park. I am not sure that you find green food there but I thought I would let them explore!
They discovered some fungus on a log. E excitedly exclaimed that he had found some barnacles! It was so cute and I was so impressed that he had remembered the word. And it really did look a bit like a patch of barnacles, but obviously we hadn’t miraculously found barnacles living 50 miles from the seaside so this led into a discussion about where barnacles live; we talked about places we had seen them before (about how Andy finds them on a whale’s tail under the sea on one of his Prehistoric Adventures, and how we found them in rock pools when we were on holiday by the seaside). In the end they concluded that it probably wasn’t barnacles that they had found. We did, however, find some acorns and A was very pleased about this:
Once we had found all that we could in the park we headed into the wood.
They collected bits and pieces in A’s cycle helmet!
And after a while we arrived at the bears!
They took it in turns to feed each one!
They were very lucky bears:
Once we had emptied our food store we headed home. I love that they both put their helmets back on. I hope you realise that I am still carrying both the scooter and the bike at this point, as well as the remains of our picnic and all of the other child paraphernalia!
On the way we passed the fairy tree and obviously had to check to see if they were home!
A and E also had to feed the crocodile, although he sadly doesn’t look much like a crocodile anymore as part of his mouth was broken off earlier in the summer. But that didn’t deter these two:
I have to admit, it was a really rather lovely afternoon. I love it when they both get an idea and run with it! Perfect child-led play!
What a lovely day filled with so much imagination. I love the acorn offerings on the bear. Just imagine if he had found barnacles. That would have been a find. So sweet. #CountryKids
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Thank you! Yes those bears are very well fed!
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What a lovely afternoon – my daughter adores bears so I think she would want to visit every day. I love the food they’ve brought, lucky bear indeed! #countrykids
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Thank you! Yes we visit nearly every day – it is a lovely little walk!
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It’s always wonderful to let kids lead and see what adventures their imagination will take all of you on. A and E look like they were having a wonderful time searching for healthy bear food and feeding it to each of the bears. It’s fab that they remembered what Barnacles were and adorable that they thought they’d found them in the park!
Thanks for linking up with me on #CountryKids.
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It always amazes me where their imaginations can take them! A is especially obsessed with healthy food at the moment which is no bad thing 🙂
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Really fabulous, children can think of some really imaginative ideas when given the freedom to do so. I love the Barnacles, so cute! #countrykids
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I know, I find their imaginations amazing! And thanks to you I now know that they were feeding the bears both acorns and hazelnuts 🙂
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What a wonderful place to live near. I love how the children had so much fun but yet such an education too. That and that they put their helmets back on – very impressive. #countrykids
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We are very lucky – our park and all of the woods are managed by a team of volunteers and they do a great job, like getting the local sculptor to make these bears everywhere! They are quite obsessed with their helmets – it is quite impressive!
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Awww, that bear has a lovely gentle face. #countrykids
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They do, they’re really lovely 🙂
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Poor crocodile. Love seeing the little ones imaginations at play.#CountryKids
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I know I was very sad about the crocodile too!
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I love the use of a helmet for a basket. Very resourceful. It’s lovely when walks have a purpose – makes it so much more motivational for children #countrykids
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I know it was very resourceful, I was impressed! I completely agree – my two only walk if there is a purpose. We have been geocaching for about a year now and that helps – we normally go searching for treasure on our walks, so they always stay motivated!
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Oh what a lovely activity to really capture their imaginations. I would have loved to have been there when they found the Bears! #countrykids
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Thank you! Yes sometimes it is the simplest things isn’t it?!
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This is the coolest adventure ever! I now want a bear sculpture in here too haha #countrykids
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Hehe yes they are amazing – we have a few in the park too. They are done by a very talented local sculptor!
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I just love those sculptures, I hadn’t realised it was an actual bear hunt, that’s pretty cool, and so sweet that you collected food for them! Loving bear week #countrykids
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Hehe yes it was an actual bear hunt, and we found bears 🙂 Thank you so much, I have a couple more bear activities to write up too!
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What a fabulous afternoon and I love the sound of going to feed the bears. Good use of the cycle helmet to collect the acorns and other bear food in! I did have to chuckle over them wearing the helmets and you carrying everything behind them – have had a few moments like that too! 🙂 #countrykids
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I know I was very impressed at the use of the cycle helmet! I was rather heavily weighed down as always 🙂
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Ahh gorgeous, reading your post has made me remember how nice it is to have young children. They are so interested in everything around them. Mine are starting to lose some of that wonder sadly. Mich x
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It is so lovely – I am trying to savour the days as they are growing too fast!
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What a great adventure, and I love seeing children’s imaginations just wander and take them into all kinds of different directions. The Bear sculpture is great, I love discovering those types of things whilst wandering in the woods, and how sweet that they gave him the acorn offering. #Countrykids
xx
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It is amazing, I love our bears – there are more sculptures in the park too! We are very lucky 🙂
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sounds like they had a lot of fun.How lovely to find the bear in the wods. love the innocence of this age and the way their imagination works.
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I know, and no matter how many times we visit the bears it is always as if they are seeing them for the first time!
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