Moments with Little Munchkins: The Great Gummy Bear Hunt!

A couple weeks ago I noticed a couple children sitting in our art area coloring pictures. I sat down with them and before I could ask a child looked at me and said, "This is water, this is me, this is where treasure is." They asked me to draw a picture with them so I grabbed a purple marker and drew a random bear. Soon an entire story evolved from my bear. "The purple bear steals all the treasure and we have to go find it before he got to it!" The excitement caught the attention of a few more children who quickly asked to join.

We spent the rest of our morning running around the playground collecting rocks, sticks and toys (aka treasure) and protecting it from the bear. When we came across this sign the child ran her finger across the words and told her friends what it said. "Be quiet bears are here and children have to tip toe." We then continued on by tip toeing through the yard only whispering.

The next day the children continued to talk about maps and needed to make more. We gathered up some supplies so they could work together and create a big one to show our families. We used different shapes to represent roads, our sandbox, houses and trees. (The other shapes were for decorations so it would be a beautiful map.)

Earlier this week we took the children out to the woods to help clean it up. We told them if we take care of our woods we would be able to use it more. After working together to clean it up, our woods were ready for something really special; a GREAT GUMMY BEAR HUNT. Wanda filled little baggies with gummy bears and labeled them with each child's name. The children mapped out their route to where the gummy bear treasures would be!