Bear Squares

Bear Squares are a great teaching resource for a variety of classroom activities.

Use them as informal units in early years mathematics lessons when measuring length and area. Attach them to the net of a cube to brighten up a lesson on 3-dimensional shapes or they could be used in a Science lesson when looking at observable characteristics.

Try some of these other fun activities with your bear squares!

Repeating Patterns Activity

Choose 2 or 3 different bears to print and cut out, and use them to recognize, describe and create patterns. Add more types of bears to make more complex patterns.

Using Memory in the Classroom

Need a lesson hook to help warm up young minds?

Print and cut out some copies of the Bear Squares and shuffle them together like a set of cards. Spread them out, face down, and have students turn over 2 cards at a time.

If the cards are the same type of bear, they get to keep them and then choose another two. If the cards don’t match, turn them back over and try to remember where they were in case one of those bears gets turned over somewhere else.

The cards could also be used for a game of ‘Snap’. So versatile!

Recognizing Observable Features in Animals – Science Activity

Recognizing the observable features is a key scientific skill that is developed across the science curriculum.

The Bear Squares provide great stimulus material for students to list the external features which then leads to rich discussions about how the bears are classified according to those features.

In a similar vein, the Bear Squares could be used to highlight differences between fictional and non-fictional depictions of animals.

Descriptive Writing Activity

Flowing on from their science applications, the Bear Squares could be used to develop descriptive writing and/or speaking.

Students could be encouraged to use adjectives to describe and differentiate the bears based on their characteristics, either as a written text type or an oral presentation.

Don’t forget, the Bear Squares also come with a blank grid for students (or fun-loving teachers) to create their own bear squares!