Hibernation Story Time

Since Groundhog's Day is on a Saturday this year, we'll be celebrating early with hibernation stories and a groundhog craft that I found through Pinterest! I was looking for something different from the bear-in-a-paper-plate-cave or sleeping animals for a craft to go with hibernation stories when I stumbled upon this cute groundhog popup craft from Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten blog post from last year. Felt like I hit the jackpot with this one since she provided templates for the groundhog and the cute poem to go with it. I can pretty much make my own templates, but it really frees up time when everything is already done.

The Books:

Kitten's Winter by Eugenie Fernandes

Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming

Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep by Jane Yolen

 Favorite: Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming was the favorite in both Toddler & Preschool Story Time

Activity: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Flannelboard

Horrible picture of the flannelboard pieces. The lighting in my office is terrible and always gives off a glare. I'm going to have to find my real camera instead of relying on my phone for better pictures.

What was in the Memory Box? 
Since Brown Bear was being used for the flannelboard, I threw in his twin, Polar Bear!

Craft: 
Interactive Pop-Up Groundhog! Here's my completed craft using materials from Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten blog post:

This was a great craft and the kids like "popping" Mr. Groundhog out of the cup. Most of the toddlers in Toddler Time were content with just taping their groundhog to the craft stick and leaving like that. I got chased around by many a groundhog!