“Bear Snores On” Speech & Language Extension Activities

If you have a young child at home, I love reading “Bear Snores On” by Karma Wilson at home. The book is about a hibernating bear who is awoken by his animal friends on a snowy evening. The story has wonderful pictures for practicing grammar, vocabulary, and answering recall questions. It’s also easy to work on speech sounds while reading aloud.

There are many lessons that can be built off of this book. Below are some ideas:

• Learn about hibernation. Why do animals hibernate? Do any animals other than bears hibernate in the winter?
  

• Build vocabulary by naming and describing winter animals.
  

• Make a craft - Focus on following 1-2 step directions and prepositions while crafting. Create your own hibernating bear!
  

• Practice sequencing and story retell - Use a graphic organizer and/or picture cards to help your child sequence and retell the story’s events.
  

• Adjectives & attributes - There are many opportunities to practice using descriptive language while looking at the pictures.
  

• Practice speech sounds during reading aloud - Model these sounds for your child, and then have the child say the words back.
  

Readers: Have you tried any storybook extension activities at home?

About the Author: Melissa Goff, M.S, CCC-SLP, is the owner of Sunflower Speech & Myo Therapy, PLLC, in Charlotte, NC.