Are you interested in learning how to study polar bears with your kids? If so, you aren't alone. I've had several requests for kid-friendly resources on these bears in the past few months. That's why I created a few activities for every subject related to the theme of polar bears.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
What you'll find in this Polar Bear Post
Looking for the free Polar Bear Printables Pack? Scroll down ⬇️ to the bottom of this post to access it!
Living in Canada's subarctic Northwest Territories, polar bears are a popular topic.
In fact, our license plates are shaped like polar bears, and our airport has a large stuffed polar bear in the middle of it.
These big white bears are prominent in advertising campaigns, slogans, and marketing, and polar bear facts are everywhere.
Bears in Our Backyard
Our neighbor says it wasn't so long ago that polar bears roamed the wilderness not far from our off grid home, on the very land where we forage for learning and dabble in forest schooling. So, studying polar bears as part of our off-grid homeschooling makes sense.
Why Study These Bears?
Capitalizing on the interest in polar bears in your homeschool is a genius way to engage your kids in learning. You will learn many fascinating facts about these incredible Arctic animals.
For instance, did you know that polar bears don't actually have white fur?
Their fur is made of transparent hollow hair follicles. Polar bears are truly captivating, and I've pulled together a list of fascinating and fun resources to help you study polar bears in a fun and exciting way.
Build your own polar bear unit study or focus on the polar bear facts that interest you most.
Nowadays, climate change has pushed the bears farther north, and sadly, they've become a serious threat to some of the more remote communities, where starving bears wander into towns to rummage through garbage looking for food.
You can learn more fascinating facts about polar bears in the Northwest Territories by visiting the Environment and Natural Resources page.
Ways to Study Polar Bears
Luckily, today's homeschoolers have many options for resources. You will find many different ways to study polar bears. And of course, depending on your children's ages and interest in the topic, you could really extend this further.
For example, if you're also homeschooling upper elementary or middle school students, consider our Northern Wilderness Collection with polar bear printables and more.
You'll find unit studies on the polar bear, brown bear/grizzly bear, and black bear (plus seven other northern animals.) All were created for my homeschoolers in the third through seventh grade.
If you want to take the most obvious route, study polar bear science and read about the bears.
But for extra fun, add some of these other subjects to your studies. A full-on unit study takes every subject and focuses on the theme.
Have as much fun with it as you like. Include this as a winter nature study when you want a break from your own homeschool curriculum.
Use our polar bear printables and unit studies to supplement your forest schooling activities or alongside your Think Outside Boxes homeschool materials.
(We LOVE Think Outside Boxes and highly recommend them to homeschool families looking for ways to learn more together outdoors.)
Another fun way to include studying polar bears in your homeschool day is to sign up for one of the many polar bear classes available on the online platform Outschool.
As I write this, 40 classes (!!!!) are coming up on Polar Bears.
Remember, when you study something your child finds fascinating, you fuel their desire to learn. This makes your job much easier.
Polar Bear Science
If your kids love experiments and hands-on learning, check out these polar bear science resources for kids.
Figure out how blubber works with this science experiment from Little Bins for Little Hands.
If you have older kids or have the time to explore with your kids, this polar bear website is run by a scientist and is full of great information about polar bears.
Learn about Hibernation from Year Round Homeschooling
Why Are Polar Bears White? From Polar Bear Facts
Polar Bear Math
Even reluctant math students enjoy numbers with these fun polar bear math activities.
Play this polar bear math game for kids from The Educator's Spin On It.
Polar Bear Counting Cards from Artsy Momma
Study Polar Bear in Books
Reading books together on any topic is a wonderful way to share as a family in the learning process. Here are four books about Polar Bears from different perspectives.
Ice Bear by Nicola Davies
The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett
Polar Bears by Gail Gibbons
Polar Bears: A Complete Guide to their Biology and Behavior by Andrew E. Derocher
Polar Bear Writing Activities
Capture your children's imagination with polar bear writing activities and prompts like these ones.
Polar Bear Writing Prompt from Creative Classroom.
Also, try this Polar Bear Craft and Writing Prompt Combined from Primary Playground
Polar Bear Free-Writing Frames and Papers from The Wise Owl Factory
Polar Bear Literacy Activities
Life of a Polar Bear Emergent Readers from In All you Do
Try these Polar Bear Sequencing Cards from Making Learning Fun
Polar Bear Handwriting
Polar Bear Handwriting Practice for PreK from Year Round Homeschooling
Arctic Animals Copywork from Multi-Tasking Mom.
Study Polar Bears through Arts
Watch a video of Polar Bear Drawing from Whimsy Workshop Teaching
Polar Bear Art Project from Artsy Momma
Make this cute Polar Bear Winter Painting from Projects with Kids
Polar Bear Crafts
Make Polar Bear "Blubber" with this recipe from Science Fun.
Polar Bear Paper Craft from No Toy Gifts
Enjoy these Polar Bear Bookmarks from Red Ted Arts
3D Edible Polar Craft from Darcy and Brian
Hands-On Play with Polar Bears
Easy Polar Bear Sensory Bin from Living Life and Learning
Because kids relate so well to hands-on objects they can touch, something like this Polar Bear Playset is a great idea to have on hand.
If you have younger kids at home, this beautiful Floor Puzzle of Polar Bears will help them relate to the lesson and practice problem skills and hand-eye coordination at the same time.
With older kids in the house, you might enjoy this 300 Piece Polar Bear Puzzle
Likewise, a fun Polar Bear Puppet like this one helps with role play and storytelling skills.
Cute Polar Bear Snacks
Finally, what better way to end a good thematic study of polar bears than with a few creative snacks? I love this idea! Maybe you can have a little polar bear party on the last day of your study.
No-Bake Polar Bear Cookies from Butter Your Biscuit
Easy Rice Krispy Polar Bear Treats from A Few Shortcuts
Polar Bear Kindergarten to Grade 3 Printable Pack
Looking for a fun, hands-on, open-and-go download to use alongside your other bear resources? Use my Polar Bear K-3 Printable Pack to add basic skills to study polar bears.
Your child will work mazes, solve puzzles, copy letters, and more. All 36 pages have a cute polar bear theme.
Subscribers get a free sneak peek of 9 of these pages - sign up down at the bottom below ⬇️ ⬇️
Here are the pages included in our Polar Bear K-3 Printable Pack. Not only does this polar bear printable work great when you study polar bears it also works well on its own.
This activity pack includes the following:
- Four Mazes of Different Skill Levels
- For Polar Bear Words Handwriting Pages
- Four Counting Pages
- One Word Search
- One Crossword Puzzle
- Two Polar Bear Puzzles
- Two Polar Bear Sudoku Puzzles
- Arctic Animal Patterning Pages
- One Polar Animal Dice
- A Polar Bear Movement Game (using the dice) - two pages
- A Polar Bear Board Game (also using the dice)
- An Alphabet Maze
- A Numbers Maze for 1-30
- Two Polar Bear Writing Prompts
- Solutions for all puzzles.
In short, using a topic your kids are curious about is a great way to engage them in learning and get them excited about school.
When you decide to study polar bears, visit this list to find ideas on every topic.
Looking for more wildlife-related articles? Try "Are Moose Dangerous? My Own Near-Death Experience".
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