Brown Bear, Brown Bear Read-Aloud and Felt Board Activity
A blue horse and a purple cat? That’s a good reason to turn the page. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, written by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle, is a picture book I’d pull out when I want preschoolers to help tell the story. The repeated question gives children a cue to join in, and the bold animal illustrations give them something specific to look for. After you read, the same animals can pop up on craft sticks or march across a felt board. The animal pieces for this activity are included with Storytime Club membership.
Use a copy from your classroom shelf or library, or find the board book on Amazon. For the paper pieces shown here, look for the Brown Bear printable stick puppets from Playtime Felts. Already a member? Sign in to Storytime Club to find the set.
Why this book works for preschool storytime
The book starts with a brown bear and takes readers from one animal to the next. Each page turn lets children see who was just named. That small bit of suspense makes it fun to pause with your fingers on the corner of the page. Give children a moment to guess, then turn the page together. A child can point, say the animal’s name, or give you a quiet little neigh when the horse appears. If your group loves guessing what comes next, try another storytime sequencing activity.
The pictures also make it easy to practice putting two words together. If a child says “bird,” you might respond, “Yes, a red bird!” Then point to the bird’s beak or feathers and let the conversation take off from there. Older preschoolers might notice that the duck has an orange bill even though we call it a yellow duck. There’s room to talk about what they actually see in the picture. For more picture-based practice, browse the free preschool worksheet themes.
Try reading all the way through once before you hand out the puppets, especially with children who are meeting the book for the first time. On a second reading, the animals already feel familiar. Now a child can listen for their part and have the pleasure of holding up the right puppet at just the right moment. If your group already knows the book by heart, let them help you decide where the first piece should go. Want more print-and-play sets for your next read-aloud? Sign up for annual Storytime Club access.
Make the printable animals into stick puppets
Gather your book, the printable animal pages, scissors, tape, and wide popsicle sticks or wooden craft sticks. Cardstock gives the circles a little more body, and you can laminate them if you plan to use them often. Print the pages with the animals you’ll use for your first round. I’d start with the brown bear, red bird, yellow duck, and blue horse. Those four are enough for a satisfying little retell. You’ll find the Brown Bear pages in Storytime Club, included with your membership.
- Cut around the outside of each circle. Keep the colored border so children can use it as a second clue. You can leave the narrow cutting to an adult and let children help sort the finished circles.
- Turn each circle over and tape a craft stick down the back. Leave enough stick below the circle for a child to hold it comfortably. Press the tape firmly over the stick and paper so the animal stays facing forward.
- Give the puppets a test run. Hold up the bear and then the bird. Can children see both animals from where they’re sitting? If you’re reading to a group, raise one puppet at a time and give everyone a good look before bringing out the next.
There’s no need to assemble every piece at once. Keep the green frog, purple cat, white dog, black sheep, and goldfish handy for a later round. You can bring out the teacher and children pieces toward the end when you’re using the full set with the book. For an easy reset, keep the puppets in an envelope in the order you plan to use them. The next time a child asks to read the book, the pieces will be ready to go. If you’re putting together a puppet basket for another book, browse more printable story sets.
Play “Who Comes Next?” with the stick puppets
Put the bear, bird, duck, and horse on the table, face up. Begin with the book open to the bear. Hold up the bear puppet as you read. When the red bird appears, invite your child to find the matching puppet and lift it up. Ask them to tell you how they knew it was the bird. They might say “It’s red,” point to the wings, or tap the matching picture in the book. Follow their clue and say it back in a short sentence. If matching pictures is a hit, pick a free worksheet bundle for a follow-up activity.
Keep reading until the blue horse has had its turn. Then lay the four puppets down in a jumble. Ask your child to pick the animal that came first. Once the bear is in place, offer two choices for the next spot. “Was it the red bird or the blue horse?” If your child wants to check, reopen the book and find the page together. You can return to the whole lineup once those first few turns feel familiar. Try the same first-and-next routine with the Three Little Pigs sequencing activity.
Next, trade jobs. Your child can hold the book while you choose a puppet. I like to make one gentle mistake and pick the horse when it’s the duck’s turn. Children get a kick out of helping a grown-up find the right piece. Then they can decide whether to put on a short puppet show, make animal sounds, or line up the puppets for one more round. Have a favorite book your child would love to act out? Suggest it for a future printable.
Use the same animal circles on a felt board
For the felt board version, print a second copy of the animal pages or make this version first. Cut out the circles and place a small adhesive hook-side dot on the back of each one. Test a single circle on your felt board before adding dots to the rest. The black felt in the example makes the colored circles easy to see. A light frame and a little room between the pieces help keep the focus on the animals. Setting up your first board? See the classroom flannel board guide.
Place the bear on the left side of the board, where you’ll start your story line. As you read, invite a child to add the bird next to the bear. Add the duck and then the horse. If you keep reading with all the animals, begin a second row on the left when the first row fills up. Follow the order of the book as you add the frog, cat, dog, and sheep. Use the goldfish and the people pieces in the final part of the read-aloud, or keep the board to one or two rows and swap pieces as you go. If you’d like a library of stories to line up and retell, you can join Storytime Club.
Here’s a quick game for the next reading. Keep three pieces in order on the board and lift the middle one away. Leave the gap visible. Ask, “Who fits between the bear and the duck?” Offer the red bird and the blue horse, and let your child place their choice. Now let them take a piece away and give you the clue. This is a nice time to use words like “first,” “next,” “after,” and “between” while you point to the spots they describe. Find more ways to use a quick game like this in the felt board literacy center guide.
Adapt the activity for circle time or home
At preschool circle time
Give four children a puppet for the opening sequence. Ask them to rest the puppets in their laps while you read. When an animal appears, its helper can hold it high for a moment. Give the rest of the group something to do, too. They might point to the matching color on a classroom chart or make one quiet sound for that animal. After the horse, collect the first four pieces and give the next few helpers their turn. For your next group read-aloud, browse the circle-time activities in Storytime Ideas.
When the group is large, try passing the board pieces to children sitting near the front and inviting others to be your page turners or color spotters. Keep the board within reach and point to the next open spot. On another day, switch the jobs so more children have a chance to place an animal. If someone prefers to stay seated, they can hand their piece to a neighbor or point to the matching picture. If the children want another turn tomorrow, explore more member printables for your next read-aloud.
At home or in a small group
Let your child choose two favorite animals after you read. The white dog and blue horse make a fun pair. Compare their ears, tails, and feet, and ask how each animal might move. A child might make the horse gallop across the table and the dog trot after it. You can use that moment to introduce a word like “gallop” while the puppet shows what it means. For another animal theme, browse the free worksheet collection.
For children who are ready for more, use the black sheep, goldfish, and teacher piece and look for where they appear in the book. Ask your child to use the pictures to explain how they found the answer. Then let them make up an extra character, such as a pink penguin, on a spare piece of paper. Give that new character a voice and ask what it notices in the room. Now you’ve moved from retelling a familiar book to making up a tiny story of your own. If the children invent a story they’d like to see as a printable, send us their idea.
Give the animals another job tomorrow
Set the green frog, purple cat, and yellow duck beside a few large scraps of colored paper or felt. Invite children to match each animal’s border to a color scrap, then find one more thing in the room with that color. The duck might end up beside a yellow block, and the frog could hop over to a green book basket. If you’re doing this at home, ask your child to pick one animal to be your color-spotting helper for the day. When you’re ready for a sit-down follow-up, choose a free printable activity bundle.
You can also put two animal puppets in the reading corner with the book and see which parts the children revisit on their own. If a child wants to jump straight to the blue horse, follow along. Ask what they noticed about it, or invite them to find the animal on the next page. A favorite picture can be all the invitation they need to open the book again. For more ideas for that book-and-puppet shelf, visit our story corner setup guide.
Keep the storytime fun going
Start with the Brown Bear printable stick puppets, or browse the Playtime Felts shop for felt stories and printables for your next theme. If you’d like more hands-on ideas for preschool circle time or homeschool, visit Storytime Ideas. For a follow-up you can print and take to the table, explore the free preschool worksheet bundles.
Planning more than one read-aloud? Join Storytime Club for a year to use the printable story pieces and worksheet bundles in the library. For today, put the bear, bird, duck, and horse in a little basket beside the book. When it’s time to read, ask your child which animal they’d like to be.
