This vocabulary lesson focuses on eating and the following vocabulary: feed, apple, bag, out and pour.  This skit shows Bear getting an apple out of a bag and being fed an apple. Bear also demonstrates following directions and answering questions without using words.   Additional activities to increase language skills include: following directions and asking for help. Get some stuffed animals or dolls, a bag, and an apple. Have your child follow directions “Give the apple to bunny. Give the apple to me. Take the apple out of the bag.” To practice asking for help, cut up an apple and place it into a bowl. Place the bowl out of your child’s reach. Eat a piece of the apple. When they reach for a piece of the apple. Assist them to say “Help me,” and hand them a piece. Continue eating the apple, taking turns asking for the apple or assisting them getting more apple pieces. 

This vocabulary lesson targets fixing hair and target the following vocabulary: brush, comb, mirror, brush, comb, look, beautiful, hair.  This skit shows Bear fixing his hair with a brush and a comb and looking in the mirror. Bear also demonstrates feelings and answering questions without using words.  Additional activities to increase language skills include turn-taking and following directions with vocabulary. Have your child get a stuffed animal or doll and practice brushing/combing hair. Label items (brush, comb, mirror, hair) and use action words (brush, comb, look) and have them imitate simple phrases “Get brush. Brush hair” and “Get mirror. Look in mirror.”  Have the follow your directions “Brush hair. Look in mirror.” You can take turns brushing hair with your child. 

This vocabulary lesson targets the concept (open) and the verbs (blow, pop).  This skit shows Bear playing with bubbles and his friend blowing bubbles for him to pop. Bear also demonstrates following directions and answering questions without using words.   Additional activities to increase language skills include asking for help and identifying body parts. Practice asking for help by offering your child a bottle of bubbles with the lid screwed on tight.  Help them say and/or sign “Help me” when they cannot open the bottle (Make the sign by making a fist with your left hand, and then lifting the fist upward with your right palm).  Help your child unscrew the lid. After blowing bubbles one time, put the lid on tight again. Continue helping your child sing and/or say “Help me.”  Practice identifying body parts (i.e. foot/feet and hand/finger).  Pop the bubbles saying “Pop bubble with finger/foot.” 

This vocabulary lesson targets actions (push, catches) and a toy (car).  The skit shows Bear catching a car while playing with a friend.  Additional activities to increase language skills include grouping items and following directions.  Gather some toy cars and some blocks together in a bag (5 of each item). Get two baskets or bowls. Take one of the cars out of the bag and say “Car.” Put the car into one of the empty baskets/bowls. Take a block out of the bag and do the same action. Then have your child continue sorting the blocks and cars, helping them as needed.  Practice following directions by placing the toy cars in certain places. “Put car on chair.” “Put car on your leg.” If your child needs help, point to the location or help them place it where asked.

This vocabulary lesson teaches clothing (coat, umbrella) and weather (raining). This skit shows what bear does when it begins raining.  Bear demonstrates putting on a coat with snaps and putting up an umbrella. Bear also demonstrates answering questions without using words. Other activities to increase language skills include following directions and working on concepts.  Practicing the concepts “wet/dry” can be done with a squirt bottle, a towel, a baby doll or bath toy (duck, frog, boat) that can get wet.  Squirt the toy and say, “Duck is wet.”  Then dry the duck and say, “Duck is dry.” You can take turns wetting your hands and your child’s hands as well.  Practicing the concepts “up/down” can also be done using an umbrella. Open the umbrella and say “Up.” Then close the umbrella and say “Down.” This activity works best with an umbrella that has a button on the handle. 

This vocabulary lesson targets food (cracker, cheese) and action (feed).  This skit shows Bear getting and making a snack.  Additional activities to increase language skills include taking turns and sorting skills.  Practice taking turns by placing some small crackers into a clear plastic bag. Say, “Mom’s/Dad’s turn.” Take a cracker out of the bag and eat it. Then say, “Joy’s turn.” Have your child eat a cracker. Continue the snack until the crackers are gone.  To work on sorting skills place a small number of crackers and cheese cubes into 2 separate bags. Then place 2 empty bowls in front of your child. Next, take a cracker out of a bag and say “Cracker.” Put the cracker into a bowl. Then take one of the cheese cubes out of a bag and say “Cheese.” Put the cheese into the empty bowl. Then have your child choose a cracker or cheese cube from a bag and help them put the food item into the correct bowl if needed. 

This vocabulary lesson teaches about a drum and the concept “loud.”  The skit shows how to play a drum with drumsticks. It also shows what bear does when the drum is played too loudly.  Bear also demonstrates answering questions without using words. Other activities to increase language skills include following directions, knowing the function of objects, and working on the concept “loud/quiet.”  If you do not have a drum, you can use pots and spoons/pencils/brushes. Practicing the concepts “loud/quiet” can be worked on while requesting your child to make “loud” drumming noises and then “quiet” noises. Working on the function of objects can be done by asking “Do we use spoons to play the drum?” and asking “What do we do with a “spoon?” 

This vocabulary lesson teaches actions (falling, crying), a noun (band-aid), and the concept (on, down).  The video shows Bear falling and how he reacts. You can reenact with your child or other stuffed animals at home by falling down. Make a silly game out of it for imitating actions, phrases, and facial expressions (surprise). You can put a stuffed animal on your head and have it fall off, saying “Uh-oh, the _____ fell down.  Put the animal on your child's shoulders and while it falls, say “down”, stretching the word out as you say it. For older children use small pieces of masking tape as "band-aids" for their stuffed animals.  This is a great time to review body parts (e.g., Bear needs a band-aid on his shoulder, leg, arm, etc.). 

This vocabulary lesson teaches nouns (flashlight, light), concepts (on, off), and responding to actions/objects or someone talking.  The skit shows turning a light on and off and how Bear reacts. This skit can be reenacted with other stuffed animals at home.  Other skills that can be worked on include asking for help (to turn the flashlight on and off) and working on body parts (eyes). You can have your child shine the light on specific body parts or house items to target more vocabulary and following directions by asking your child to shine the light where you asked (Put the light on the bear’s knee or on the couch).  

This vocabulary lesson targets objects (flower, water) and the verb (pour).  This skit shows Bear pouring water on a flower with a watering can. Bear also demonstrates following directions and answering questions without using words.   Additional activities to increase language skills include understanding the function of objects and  matching items. To practice “function of objects”, get a small watering can or cup of water and take a walk outside with your child. Help the child pour water on several different flowers. Each time, say, “Water is for flowers.” When the water is gone say, “Empty. Water is all gone.” Practice matching items by placing different colored items (i.e., flowers, colored paper circles) in front of your child.  Place three matching items in your lap. Next place one of the flowers from your lap next to its match.  Say “(Blue) - (Blue). They’re the same.” Hand the 2 matching flowers to the child and repeat. Take the matching flowers from the child and go on to the next match. Instead of flowers you can use things that are the same color (i.e. socks, toys, colored plastic dishes). 

This vocabulary lesson targets the concepts (big, little, open). This skit shows Bear getting a gift, opening it and finding a little bear inside. Bear also demonstrates following directions and answering questions without using words.  Additional activities to increase language skills include following directions with vocabulary and practicing the concept “big/little.” Get a big box or container to practice following directions and vocabulary (i.e., animals). Put a stuffed animal on the table or floor. Tell your child “Put (dog) in.” Then say “(Dog) in. Bye-bye (dog).” Continue this with several different stuffed animals. Once they can identify a few stuffed animals, place 2 different animals on the table or floor. Say, “Get (rabbit). Put in.” Practice  “big/little” during everyday activities (i.e. snack time, bathtime, bedtime).  For example at snack, give your child a big cracker and a little cracker. During bath time, you can use different size cups and at bedtime, you can use different size stuffed animals. When you give your child a big item, say, “Big” and say, “Little” when you hand them a little animal.

This vocabulary lesson targets the eating ice cream and vocabulary (cone, ice cream, feed, lick, cold).  This skit shows the making of an ice cream cone and feeding it to Bear. Bear also demonstrates answering questions without using words.   Additional activities to increase language skills include the concepts “cold” and “empty.” the body part “tongue.” Practice the concept “empty” by creating pretend “ice cream scoops” by crumpling pieces of colored paper into balls (brown for chocolate, white for vanilla, pink for strawberry). Place the pretend ice cream into bowls or cones made from paper. You and your child can pretend to eat the ice cream. Hold up the empty bowl or cone and say “All gone. Empty.” You can pretend to do this with stuffed animals or a doll. To teach the concept “cold,” get some ice cubes from your freezer. Have your child touch them and say “Cold.” Place some ice cubes in a bowl and let your child play with the ice cubes while they melt and say “Brrrrrrr. Cold.”

This vocabulary lesson targets clothing (hat, scarf, mittens) and body parts (head, neck, hands). This skit shows Bear putting on winter clothes.  Bear also demonstrates answering questions without using words. Additional activities to increase language skills include following directions and matching skills.  Your child can act out the story using a stuffed animal or baby doll. Give directions such as, “Put hat on baby.” Have your child find the clothing and help them by pointing to the requested items of clothing and/or body parts if needed. Matching skills can be practiced by matching pairs of mittens or gloves (different colors). Put one mitten down and ask your child to find the other mitten. If your child needs help, you can demonstrate finding the matching color and hold up each mitten and say, “This mitten is red. This other mitten is red. They’re the same.” 

This vocabulary lesson targets house items (pillow, blanket) and action (sleeping).  The skit shows Bear getting items he needs to go to sleep.  Additional activities to increase language skills include playing a game while taking turns and demonstrating the function of house items.  Get a blanket and play a game targeting “under.” Put yourself “under” the blanket and say “Under. Mom is under.” Have your child pull the blanket off and say “You found me.” Continue taking turns with your child being under the blanket. You can also play “Peek-a-boo.” Practice vocabulary by playing a guessing game. Hide a familiar toy under the blanket, have your child guess what it is and pull the blanket off. Have your child label the item saying “It’s a train.” or label the toy for them. At bedtime, help your child put a stuffed animal or doll to sleep. Say what each item is used for (pillow, blanket) as you use them, “Pillow for sleeping;” “Blanket for sleeping.”  Then kiss the toy and say “Goodnight (doll).”

This vocabulary lesson targets household items (bowl, spoon, napkin) and action (feed, wipe).  The skit shows Bear eating food and wiping his face afterwards.  Additional activities to increase language skills include matching and learning the function of items. Gather a few stuffed animals, hold up each item one at a time, labeling the item and stating what we do with the item. You can use different kitchen items (e.g., cups, bowls, spoons, forks, napkins). Hold up the spoon saying “Cup. Cup is for drinking.” Put the cup up to the animal’s mouth. Hold up the spoon saying “Spoon. Spoon is for eating.” Hold the spoon up the animal’s mouth. Do this activity with the other kitchen items. Repeat this activity with the other stuffed animals.  Practice matching items that are the same by getting kitchen items (bowls, spoons, cups).