This month in the infant room, we brought the “Going on a Bear Hunt” book to life! The infants have really enjoyed reading and looking through books, especially the bear hunt one, so educator Michelle had the idea to use the bear hunt book as a sensory experience. She made a large cave out of a cardboard box then collected some of the items the characters in the book walk through, like tall grass, sticky mud and a cold stream!
We started with reading our book, Michelle inviting whoever wanted to, to come over and read with her. She read through the book, as the infants babbled, smiled and pointed at pictures in the book. Michelle talked about how we were going to go for our own little bear walk soon! After we read through the book, Michelle started to bring out the sensory part of our bear walk. Most of the babies are still learning to walk so, with some assistance, they each took a turn walking through the tall grass, swish, swish, swish, the sticky mud, squish, squish, squish, through the water, splash, splash, splash and finally into the cave! “Oh no watch out for bears in there!” the educators said smiling as the infants peeked in and out of the cave!
We had so much fun doing this activity, there was so much learning going on. From talking about our sense of touch and all the different materials we were feeling, to word repetition and little conversations we had about the textures! We will definitely have to try an activity like this again soon!
