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…
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.*
Love this!!
Thank you, Rachel!!!
Where do I find the patterns for this activity?
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
Adorable!!!
My kids love this book! We have to make this! Great idea, thank you! <3
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!
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!
Taryn, thank you for telling me that!! That blesses me SO much!
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
Such a cute idea! Thank you so much for caring about others to share your wonderful ideas. Your sharing blesses so many.
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!