This Jesse Bear Book Unit is part of the beautiful Before Five in a Row curriculum, a gentle, literature-based program designed for preschoolers. Each day, we read the same book and use it as a springboard for play, art, and discovery.
Check Out This! I’ve done other book units which contain lots more ideas for bear-themed activities…Ask Mr. Bear, We’re Going On A Bear Hunt and Corduroy
A Gentle Start to Our Learning Journey
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? was our very first “row,” and what a lovely week it turned out to be! Abigail was enchanted from the very first page and delighted in every activity we explored together.
Curriculum: Before Five in a Row (B4FIAR)
Homeschool: AngelicScalliwags Homeschool
Age Group: 2–4 years
Book: Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom
📚 Lap Book Activities
To start, we made a Jesse Bear lap book using printables from FIAR Digital and Home School Share.
We photocopied the book cover to decorate the front, then filled the inside with matching activities, vocabulary pockets, and character coloring pages.
Abigail loved opening her lap book each day to add something new, it became her own little “Jesse Bear world.”
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🎨 Art & Craft Fun
Art time was full of bear-inspired creativity!
🐻 Paper Plate Bear Masks — easy and adorable. Abigail proudly wore hers all week!
🌱 Cress Bear Garden — we cut kitchen paper into a bear shape, sprinkled seeds, and watched them sprout.
👕 Dress-the-Bear Activity — coloring and cutting clothes for our paper Jesse Bear helped with fine motor skills and imagination.
🧺 Tray Activities
We gathered all our “bear-themed” resources for independent play trays:
- Button color matching
- Wooden bear family puzzle
- Chunky bear puzzle
- Threading and lacing cards
- Magnetic shape bears
- “Dress-a-Bear” toy for zips, buttons, toggles, and velcro practice
Abigail loved exploring each tray, especially the dressing bear, which gave her confidence with her own clothes!
🔢 Math Fun
Math this week was hands-on and delicious:
🍬 Sorting & Graphing Gummy Bears — Abigail counted, sorted, and then (of course) ate her results!
🎨 Color Matching with Buttons — great for observation and sorting.
🐻 Linking Bears Addition — simple counting and combining groups.
🪡 Threading and Sewing — perfect for developing patience and fine motor control.
🍽️ Bear Pancake Snack
To end our unit, we made bear pancakes! Slightly wonky but absolutely delicious, and a perfect way to celebrate a fun week of learning.
💛 Reflection
Our first ever Before Five in a Row unit was such a joy. Abigail was fully engaged every day, she played, created, counted, and explored with enthusiasm.
This gentle, story-centered approach truly captures what we love about homeschooling: learning woven into family life and play.
📘 Resources for Parents
Discover More Book Units! Click here for all of my book units
The Homeschool Story Studio
The Homeschool Story Studio is a 140 page downloadable resource to help with all your planning needs for a picture book unit study. Once downloaded, it can be used time and time again with multiple books and multiple children.
It has lots of planning sheets, as well as activity sheets and many different lapbook mini books.
In addition to this, I have trawled through my blog and included hundreds of ideas to make each book unit different and exciting for your children. To read more about The Homeschool Story Studio head over to my post which contains more of the options found within the book as well as the contents pages, so you know exactly what you’re getting.
The Homeschool Story Studio is available from my shop. If you have any questions or suggestions for extra pages I could add, please do get in contact using the form at the top of my blog.
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