Story - Explorers - Postman Bear

In this story, we'll meet Postman Bear and then discover the pretend and real homes of some of his animal friends. Begin by watching the story video below. 

Activity 1: Role Play the story

Can you role the story of Postman Bear? Can you deliver your letters to the squirrel, mole and frog? You could use any toys you have at home or use the resources in the list below. Maybe the animals could be hidden behind doors in your home or in your garden in the types of home they would really live in. 

Activity 2: Animal Homes

In this activity, you will find out more about the homes in which the animals in the story really live. Begin by watching the Power Point show in the resources below and then use the matching cards to match up the animals with their homes. 

Activity 3: Big, Small and size ordering

Below, you'll find a collection of pictures of the characters from the story in different sizes. Can you compare a big and small picture and match them with the symbols? Now can you order them from the smallest to the biggest?

Activity 4: Repeating Patterns

Begin by printing the document in the list below. Cut out the extra symbols on the final page. Can you decide which animal comes next in the repeating patterns? It can help to say them out loud as you point to each picture in the pattern. 

Activity 5: Initial sounds labelling

Open the document below. Can you decide what sound starts each animal name? Can you write the sound in the space?

Activity 6: Talking about animal homes

Print the colourful semantics resources below. You will need one sentence strip from page 2 (orange, yellow, blue) and all of the symbols on page 1 cut out individually.

Look at the powerpoint in activity 2 and picking one animal at a time, use the coourful semantics resources to build a sentence about where it lives. The adult should add two symbols to the sentence strip to build an almost finished sentence. The symbol colours must match the colours on the sentence strip. Now ask you child to add the final symbol asking an appropriate question to match the missing symbol e.g. Who lives in a drey? Where is the bear living?

If your child is confident, you could support them to build the whole sentence on their own, using your questioning for support? Who is this? What are they doing? Where are they living?

Activity 7: Writing Letters

In the story, Postman Bear writes letters to his friends to invite them to his birthday party. Can you write letters at home too? Use the templates below to write letters just like Postman Bear's - you could trace all the words, add the initial sounds or write 'come to my party' all by yourself. You will find a different template on each page of the document and your child's teacher can help you choose a good level for you child to try. If you do activity 5 first, you can use that to help you write who the letter is to. If you like, you could use your letters in Activity 1 when your role play the story. 

You could even write a short letter of your own to a friend or family member, on your own or with an adult's help. Can you post it in the letter box or drop through their door when you're out on a walk? Sadly, we can't invite our friends and family to a party like Postman Bear but you could say hello or share some news instead. 

Activity 8: Birthday Party Subtraction

In this activity, you'll do some simple subtraction in a practical role play game. You'll need a print out of the squirrel, mole and frog from the document list below and either the bear mask so your child can pretend to be the bear or a print out of the character. You could use toys to represent the animals instead if you have them at home. If you've already done activity 1, you could use the resources you made then. 

Next, print out the party counting objects from the document list below. Act out the bear handing out the items so his animal guests have one each. Ask your child how many bear has to start off with then how many he has left each time he hands one out. If your child is confident, you could write this as a subtraction for them or support them to write it down themselves e.g. 3 - 1 = 2, 2 - 1 = 1 etc 

Activity 9: Counting and Number Writing

Using the counting activity sheet in the document list below, can you count the pictures and write the correct number in the spaces? If you need some help, there is also a number formation sheet to help you practise your numbers first or as you go. 

Activity 10: Sensory Story

Open the PowerPoint in the document list below for a simple sensory story based on the characters in the book. The PowerPoint shows you everything you'll need before you start. Give your child plenty of time to explore the resources as you read through the PowerPoint with them. 

The sensory story is also available as a PDF below. 

Activity 11: Animal colouring or collage

In the document list below you'll find some black and white pictures of the animals that feature in Postman Bear. You can decorate them in any way you decide. You might colour them in, paint them or create a collage like Megan...