Flannel Friday: Teddy Bear Bedtime Rhymes

This fun hide and seek game is a bedtime storytime favorite! My original flannel featured one bear and single color blanket squares. My new and improved flannel features fun pattern blankets and teddy bears of many different sizes/details! Some bears have bowties, some bears have hair bows, some bears are big, some bears are small…

I like to hide at least one teddy bear under each blanket. After we find all the bears, we compare/contrast them. Here’s some sample math talk we might engage in:

• HOW MANY teddy bears are there?
• How are these teddy bears the SAME?
• How are they DIFFERENT?
• Which teddy bears are the BIGGEST?
• Which teddy bears are the SMALLEST?
• Which kind of bear do we have the MOST of?
• Which kind of bear do we have the LEAST of?

Here’s some chants/rhymes/songs we use:

Teddy Bears & Blanket Squares

Version 1:

Teddy bear, teddy bear,

Are you under the plaid square?

Version 2:

Teddy bear, teddy bear,

Where could you be?

Are you under the plaid blanket?

Let’s look and see!

Version 3:

Where, oh where has my teddy bear gone?

Oh where, oh where can it be?

With its big red bow and its fur so brown,

Let’s look under a blanket and see!

CREDIT: ORIGINAL LYRICS

This is also a great way to help kids build working memory, which is a big part of reading comprehension.

First I describe MY bear before we do our rhyme (e.g. my teddy bear is brown with a red bow). Sometimes I give my bear a fun name, too. After we reveal each bear under the blankets, I ask them if it’s the right one.

“NO! That’s not my teddy bear. Mr. Snuggles is brown and has a red bow. These bears don’t have any bows!”

And SOMETIMES we find something really surprising under the blankets… like a spider! 😱 This is a fun way to transition to one of my favorite bedtime scarf songs – Bed Bugs by Johnette Downing.

Here’s a free template if you’d like some bears and squares of your own:

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