Tribute to Knut the Polar Bear

Yesterday, I read that Knut the polar bear passed away. This is sad news. I've never seen him in person but have been watching his story since he was a cub. I'm a big fan of polar bears so I wanted to post a couple of links about him and some of my favorite pictures of him. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I like to teach children about animals and to treat them with kindness and respect. I think even the youngest children can learn things from being around animals. Usually it starts with pets like cats and dogs at home with supervision of course. Through books, photos, stuffed animals and field trips, children can be introduced to the diversity in wildlife.

Here's a link to is article on Wikipedia. I tried to find one from another source, but couldn't find anything with as much detail about his life.
Knut the Polar Bear
A book for kids.
How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World (Knut)
This movie about Knut is also kid friendly.
Knut and Friends







I can't remember where I've gotten these pictures. They were from articles I've read about him and I don't claim them as my own.

Cotton Ball Polar Bear

Cotton Ball Polar Bear
What you’ll need:
Polar bear picture, coloring sheet or cutout,
Cotton balls,
Shiny circles, beads or googley eyes for the eyes,
Glitter
And other optional materials.

We used these two coloring sheets.
Polar bear
Polar bear mother and cub
If you don’t like either of these, there are so many coloring pages or cutouts to choose from online.

Some kids picked the polar bear by himself, but many picked the mother and cub. I only have a picture of one that I made, but couldn’t get pictures of the rest.

We started by gluing cotton balls to the bears. Some used very few cotton balls while others filled in their whole bears. Some kids added a lot of shiny circles and stars. Others only added a couple. Most of the kids added a lot of glitter on top of everything. We covered the cotton balls with glue and sprinkled glitter over the glue. Some of them even got added to the end of the year portfolios.

It’s a simple, but fun winter craft. Even though it has a finished product, there is a creative process by adding different materials. Kids can decide where to place them and they can even go outside the lines to make the bear apart of a scene.
Other ideas:
Add cotton balls or white puffy paint to the bottom for a snow scene,
Use different types of materials to give the bear more texture,
Cut out the bear and place him in another winter scene that the kids have created,
Do a similar project with penguins or snowmen.