Last week’s “Page the Bookworm Presents” storytime class at my library featured the song, “Waltzing with Bears” and I used the flannelboard and puppets to tell the story of how my Uncle Walter goes waltzing with bears:
He goes wa-wa- wa-wa- wa-wa waltzing with bears,
Raggy bears, baggy bears, shaggy bears too.
There’s nothing on earth Uncle Walter won’t do,
So he can go waltzing, wa-wa-wa waltzing,
So he can go waltzing, waltzing with bears.
Then we made bear bodi-puppets (I got the idea for bodi-puppets from the excellent book, Storytelling with Puppets, by Connie Champlin). The head of the puppet was a paper plate covered with a brown construction paper face. The body of the puppet was made from a brown paper grocery bag. The arms were made of strips of burlap, with one end stapled into the puppet body, and a seam enclosing a rubber band at the other end. The puppet hangs in front of the child’s body, and the rubber bands on the puppet’s arms go around the child’s wrists. The child’s arms become the puppet’s arms, and the puppet comes to life…perfect for dancing along to a recording of Waltzing with Bears.
I discovered this great music video for Waltzing with Bears on YouTube!
