Teddy Bear's Picnic

 If you go down in the woods today you're sure of a big surprise.

If you go down in the woods today you'd better go in disguise;

For ev'ry bear that ever there was will gather there for certain, because

Today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic.

-- Jimmy Kennedy

 After all the fun we've been having with the mouse puppet I made last week, I thought I'd tackle another puppet/book related project so, I created a friend to accompany our sing-alongs with the book Teddy Bear's Picnic. We've been enjoying this board book version illustrated by Michael Hague, however, I am looking forward to graduating to our larger paper version.  The illustrations by Mr. Hague are gloriously detailed and slightly spooky (some of the trees and toadstools have eerie faces) but there are also the funniest wee fairies hidden among the tree roots...

 I got started by tracing 'round the hand of my favorite 8 year old to create a pattern...

 Here we have front and back patterns (the front has no ears.)

I like my bears chocolate-y so I created our bear out of brown wool felt with a lighter cafe-au-lait  contrasting circle for the face, however, I could also imagine a rainbow of bears (lavender, blue, green, etc...) if you wanted to get creative!

First I sewed the face to the (earless) front of the puppet...

 Added eyes, nose and some buttons (a round, contrasting fabric tummy might also add a charming touch...)

 Then stitched the front of the puppet to the back...

 And viola!  We are ready to play!

Just for fun we created this little film so you can see our new teddy bear in action. A note about the dodgy camera work... My Little Mr. Bloom was bouncing up and down to the rhythm of the song while holding the camera...perhaps it adds an artistic flair?