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Brown Bear, Brown Bear Handprint Project

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Brown Bear Handprint Keepsake Book - this is AWESOME! What a fun and adorable way to teach colors!

As a teacher of 2 year olds, we don’t have a ton of rigorous curriculum.

We are mostly learning basic principles of SURVIVAL – like don’t hit or bite people and SHARE THE TOYS.

But these tender hearts are so ready to learn!  So each month we focus on a different shape, number, and color.

One of the books we read (almost every day of the year) is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin and Eric Carle.  This book is wonderful for little people because of its repetition and strong focus on colors.

As a yearlong project, I decided to make a special Brown Bear Handprint Book for each student and their family that would feature their child’s handprint while retelling the beloved Brown Bear story.

Since we read the book so much in class, it makes for a wonderful keepsake that the children (at 2 years old!) can ‘read’ to their parents and siblings because they have the story completely memorized by the end of the year!

This book requires very little materials (which is one of the many reasons why I love it so much).

Brown Bear Handprint Keepsake Book

*I found so much inspiration for this project from Preschool Ideas for 2 Year Olds

Materials –

  • 1 (1-inch) white binder
  • Clear, plastic sleeves
  • Paint
  • Googly eyes (In a variety of sizes.  Also the self-adhesive googly eyes were awesome and helped so much!)
  • Construction paper
  • Black pen and colored markers
  • Glue
  • Scissors

Directions –

Each month of the school year we do a new handprint featuring the color that we are celebrating that month.  For example, in September we talk about the color red, so we make the red bird handprint.  In October we talk about the color orange, so we make the goldfish.

After 9 months of school, our book is ready!  We stick each page in a plastic sheet protector and then put the whole caboodle in a binder.

I made a simple cover design using the Brown Bear image I found at 1+1+1=1.

Here are the photos of each page…Brown Bear Bear HandprintBrown Bear Red Bird HandprintBrown Bear Yellow Duck HandprintBrown Bear Blue Horse HandprintBrown Bear Green Frog HandprintBrown Bear Purple Cat HandprintBrown Bear White Dog HandprintBrown Bear Black Sheep HandprintBrown Bear Goldfish HandprintBrown Bear Handprint Keepsake Book

Isn’t it darling?!

The horse is a bit of a stretch, I KNOW, but I honestly could not come up with any other way!  And we fudged a bit on the purple cat by using the foot, but that one is probably my favorite – oh, those tiny toes!!

The parents were SO HAPPY with them when we revealed the final product at the end of the year party.  And the kids were pretty proud of it because they had been working on it ALL YEAR.

I hope this book is something you can use with your kids or in your own classroom!  I will definitely be doing it again this year.

– Julie 🙂

*Did you love this?  Our class makes another special book every year about the Days of Creation.  You can find it HERE.*FREE Printable Creation Book Craft at happyhomefairy.com

Crafts, Preschool
Back to School, Back to School Books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear Activities, Brown Bear Handprint Book, Handprint Art, Preschool, Preschool Classroom, Preschool Crafts, Preschool Teaching Tips
12 Comments

About Happy Home Fairy

Julie Brasington is a Preschool Director, wife of a South Florida Worship Pastor and mom of 3 boys. She writes at Happy Home Fairy where you can find easy craft ideas, FREE printables, simple recipes, holiday fun, thoughts on raising kids, and encouragement for moms.

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Reader Interactions

12 Comments

  1. rachelquesada

    August 13, 2015 at 7:48 am

    Love this!!

    to rachelquesada" aria-label='reply to this comment to rachelquesada'>reply to this comment
    • Happy Home Fairy

      August 13, 2015 at 7:55 am

      Thank you, Rachel!!!

      to Happy Home Fairy" aria-label='reply to this comment to Happy Home Fairy'>reply to this comment
    • Anita Miller

      February 24, 2020 at 7:13 am

      Where do I find the patterns for this activity?

      to Anita Miller" aria-label='reply to this comment to Anita Miller'>reply to this comment
  2. April

    August 13, 2015 at 8:03 am

    What a wonderful idea – I do not teach but I’m thinking my little girl could make books like these for her younger cousins for gifts at Christmas – thank you for sharing

    to April" aria-label='reply to this comment to April'>reply to this comment
  3. Deb

    August 13, 2015 at 12:55 pm

    Adorable!!!

    to Deb" aria-label='reply to this comment to Deb'>reply to this comment
  4. Brittany Helwig

    December 8, 2016 at 10:28 pm

    My kids love this book! We have to make this! Great idea, thank you! <3

    to Brittany Helwig" aria-label='reply to this comment to Brittany Helwig'>reply to this comment
  5. Emily Sophia

    January 17, 2017 at 4:38 am

    I absolutely love this! I teach 2 year olds as well (well, 18-27 month olds) and the theme of our school classrooms is based upon the Brown Bear book. Our classroom is Purple Cat, the previous age group is Red Birds and the classroom my kids will move into is Goldfish. I really want to make this binder for my kids portfolio now! Thank you for the idea!

    Also, I love your blog! I am teaching at a non-religious school in NJ now, but for the last 5 years I volunteered working/teaching kids in churches in South Florida. Your blog is so helpful!

    to Emily Sophia" aria-label='reply to this comment to Emily Sophia'>reply to this comment
  6. Taryn

    February 2, 2018 at 4:54 pm

    I teach a preschool SPED classroom and I am SO HAPPY I found this post! I will be doing this project for the end of the year! *Squeals* They all love Brown Bear SO MUCH. Wonderful idea, thank you so much!

    to Taryn" aria-label='reply to this comment to Taryn'>reply to this comment
    • Happy Home Fairy

      February 2, 2018 at 11:44 pm

      Taryn, thank you for telling me that!! That blesses me SO much!

      to Happy Home Fairy" aria-label='reply to this comment to Happy Home Fairy'>reply to this comment
  7. Carolyn

    January 29, 2019 at 8:40 pm

    Where can I find the template to these at I would love to do this with my class. Thanks you can email caskiecarolyn@yahoo.com

    to Carolyn" aria-label='reply to this comment to Carolyn'>reply to this comment
  8. Susan

    May 24, 2019 at 9:54 am

    Such a cute idea! Thank you so much for caring about others to share your wonderful ideas. Your sharing blesses so many.

    to Susan" aria-label='reply to this comment to Susan'>reply to this comment
  9. Katie Ziola

    April 4, 2020 at 2:35 pm

    This is so fun! I am a family child care provider and do daily projects. Another activity I’ve done is to make strips of each color- 1″ x 3″ and we glue them underneath each other in order of their color in the book. Then just by looking at our color block we’ve made we’re able to remember the story without looking at the book. We might pull this out during meal time or have a few extra minutes. Kids have such amazing memories- gives their little brains such a workout. Thanks for all you do and share to help make our jobs easier!

    to Katie Ziola" aria-label='reply to this comment to Katie Ziola'>reply to this comment

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Hey there! My name is Julie, the Happy Home Fairy. I am married to a Worship Pastor, we have 3 boys, and I am a Preschool Director. I love sharing easy, fun ideas to help moms build a happy home! Here you will find simple crafts, FREE Printables, yummy recipes, stories about my journey to trust Jesus with my family, and encouragement for your mama's heart. You can read more about me HERE!

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