How to Share with a Bear ~ Picture Book & KID KANDY

Meet clever, resourceful, and kind Thomas

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

How to Share with a Bear
By Eric Pinder
Pictures by Stephanie Graegin
(Farrar Straus Giroux, 2015)

How to Share with a Bear is an adorable book!

One day, Thomas made a cozy cave with cushions, pillows, and blankets. It was so warm and comfy! Thomas ran to get the flashlight so he could see to read in his cave and when he got back, someone with bright shiny eyes was in his cave.

It was a bear!

Throughout the rest of the story, Thomas strategized to lure the bear out of the cave and get himself back in the cave before the bear returned.

Thomas was very inventive in his bear-removal-plans and used his bear background information to plan tricky attempts to reclaim his cave.

At last, Thomas succeeded. The bear began to cry, as there was no room for both of them in the cave.

Thomas, ever kind and resourceful, enlarged the cave and invited the bear in to read - together.

How to Share with a Bear is delightful! I love the two characters and how Thomas solves his problem. A surprise ending will thrill young readers.

KID KANDY:

Make a Cave

1. Read How to Share with a Bear.

2. Follow the directions at the end of the book to make your own cave (pillows, blankets, cushions).

3. Gather your favorite books and a flashlight.

4. Be kind like Thomas and invite a bear (or your brother, sister, or friend) to join you in the cave.

Sharing is so much fun!

Families on Mission, Ideas for Teaching Your Preschooler to Love, Share, and Care

Families on Mission, Ideas for Teaching Your Preschooler to Love, Share, and Care by Angie Quantrell (Woman's Missionary Union, New Hope Publishing, 2005)

Families on Mission, Ideas for Teaching Your Preschooler to Love, Share, and Care was written when I was deep in the midst of preschool and early childhood education. After teaching four and five-year-olds for several years, I was full of ideas of ways to involve preschoolers in missions. This book is a catalog of simple activities for families to do along with their young children.

For preschoolers, missions is loving, caring, and sharing. Learning to reach out to other people in loving ways, helping them, praying for them, and caring for them, are important concepts that families need to teach and live out as they raise children that grow up to continue doing the same thing. The world is really a small place. Becoming a caring member of any community is important in our world.

Loving, caring, sharing, praying, giving, doing, helping, my friends, my church, my neighborhood, and my world are the themes for the eleven chapters in this book. Each topic has multiple activities, ideas, and suggestions for parents. This book is also appropriate for teachers, grandparents, families, daycare workers, and anyone else who works with young children and wants to model a lifestyle of reaching out and loving others. The ideas are geared for young children. Some activities revolve around the nuclear family. Other ideas involve extended family, church members, or community members.

Make a difference in the life of your preschooler. Choose and adapt the ideas for your situation. Have fun!

Enjoy missions - loving, caring, sharing, praying - with your preschooler.