Jamtastic Bears

BOOK: Jamberry was a favorite of my older son and is now a favorite of my toddler. Bruce Degen's popular title is a super read aloud -- full of enthusiastic, playful rhyming. The illustrations featuring a young boy and his comical, jovial bear friend (with all the delicious berries) are delightful. We read this so often, and we could never get tired of it.

ACTIVITY: Berry Bear Painting
I thought it would be fun (although messy) to try painting with berries. For the boys, it proved to be an exciting change of pace from using paints. I first cut out a bear shape from white paper. I then laid down newspaper and put out a thawed bowl of frozen berries. I gave the kids the option of using their fingers to smoosh berries onto their paper or to use Q-tips as their paint brushes. They tried both ways, but they both prefered painting with the Q-tip "brushes" instead of dirtying their hands (all the better to keep things cleaner). Once the berry paint was dry, I glued their bears to construction paper. This was definitely an example of having more fun with the process than worrying about the look of the end product, but the kids had a great time.