Bear’s Picture is a beautiful story about loving yourself no matter what others think. Two very gray boring gentlemen happen upon Bear while he is painting. They don’t understand Bear’s painting and try to discourage him from finishing it. Bear is having none of that and simply says it’s mine and I love it. Daniel Pinkwater created an inspiring story that should be in everyone’s library.

D.B. Johnson builds on the joy in this book with his beautiful illustrations.

The following activities are designed to help children explore who they are and share the things they love. Looking at ourselves and acknowledging who we are is very hard and takes practice. Sometimes the first step to self-understanding is looking in a mirror.

Activities:

1. Picture Frame
   • Find a simple cheap picture frame.
   • Paint or decorate the picture frame with buttons, beads, artificial flowers, etc. that represent you
   • Take a selfie or have someone take a picture of you, print it, and put it in the frame.
   • If you don’t want to use a picture, see if you can find a mirror that will fit in the frame.
   • Ask them about their frame
     • Why did you choose the items you did?
2. Use any medium to draw a self-portrait.
   • You can use a picture of you as a reference
   • You could look at yourself in a mirror
   • You could draw from memory
   • You could make it abstract using colors or shapes that reflect who you are.
   • 
   • Talk to children about the experience.
     • How did it feel staring at yourself in the mirror for so long?
3. Use air dry clay to sculpt your face
   
4. Create a collage
   • Find pictures in a magazine of things that represent you and things that you like.
   • Cut out pictures.
   • Glue pictures onto another piece of paper to create collage.
   • If you cannot fill in entire piece of paper with pictures, use crayons, colored pencils, or markers to color background.
   • 
   • Ask them about the pictures they choose.
     • Why do you have a picture of an apple?

Benefits of art activities:

• Children learn how to reflect on who they are.
• Children learn how to express themselves in a creative way.
• Children may learn something they didn’t know about themselves.
• Children can experience a variety of ways to create a self-portrait.
• Children get to share who they are with you.

Outschool Story Time and Art

I am offering a story time and art club on Outschool.com. If you are interested in sharing stories and creating art with your children, check out my class here. I will read a new story each week and walk you through an art activity that goes along with that day’s book.