I would like to start off this blog by saying that my love for stuffed animals started when I was 18. I never owned many bears, only figurines and some things from the Warner Brothers Store or Disney. But I wouldn’t consider that a classic bear.
In 2001 the first Build a Bear opened its doors and I fell in love with the idea and concept. So I made my first teddy bear for myself and I named him Christopher. ( which is my sons middle name, and no I didn’t name him after a bear)
During college I ended up working for that location. CHANDLER RULES, go 66. Love you guys. And they became my second family. Even after I quit and went to work for the school district for 8 years, I went back to my family for part time work. They welcomed me back with open Arms.
Been there up until March of this year just before covid hit. I was about to get my 4 year pin. My boss says that if I ever want my job back, it’s waiting for me.
Okay now back to teddy bear picnic. A classic lesson plan, that I found tons for on other websites, some even for free. Teachers Pay Teachers ( is a website that is like Etsy but for lessons) has a huge amount of teddy bear Picnic stuff. the only thing is you have to pay for some of them. So I went on there and look at ideas and I went into publisher and made my own creations.
The one thing I have that I always knew when I went into the world of education, is you have to be creative and can’t always rely on others to make things for you to get through it. Right now friends of mine are going on Pinterest and using others ideas to make their own. I took two simple ideas i have seen before and I made my own.
So far my two kiddos are responding to this very well. They like doing file folder games together.
Little by little I add more to their learning every day. I some times take away things too. I keep it SIMPLE and not STRESSFUL.
Its working.
The TAWL Mom 