The Bear Essentials: Folktales of Polar Bears and Their Cousins

White-Bear King Valemon
Theodor Kittelson, 1857-1914

February 27 is Polar Bear Day and folktales from Iceland to Norway, Russia and Germany, folktales, fairy tales, myths and legends stories of polar bears and their cousins abound.  I offer some stories, curriculum, information, crafts and more about these beautiful, majestic animals.

SOME POLAR BEAR FACTS

* At birth, polar bear cubs are 12 to 14 inches long and weigh around one pound.

* Polar bears, also known as Maritime Bears, are the largest land carnivores in the world.

* Polar bears are marine mammals, and spend much of their time on Arctic sea ice. 

* Polar bears are strong swimmers, and individual have been seen in open Arctic waters as far as 200 miles from land. Their front feet are large, flat and  oar-like, making them excellent swimmers.

* The World Conservation Union estimates that there are between 20,000-25,000 polar in the world.

The above information was found at: http://www.defenders.org/polar-bear/basic-facts .

STORIES

Audun and the Bear – Iceland

https://www.storiestogrowby.org/story/audun-the-bear/   

The Bear – From The Grey Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

http://www.classicreader.com/book/2190/23/

Bearskin – Germany
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm101.html

The Bear and the Fox - Norway

https://norwegianfolktales.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-bear-and-fox.html 

The Bear Trainer and His Cat
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1161.html

East of the Sun, West of the Moon - Norway

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/norway034.html

The Fisherman and the Bear – Maine, USA

http://www.americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/10/the_fisherman_and_the_bear.html

King of the Polar Bears by L. Frank Baum

https://americanliterature.com/author/l-frank-baum/short-story/the-king-of-the-polar-bears

King Valemon, the White Bear - Norway

https://thornews.com/2013/03/20/norwegian-fairy-tales-white-bear-king-valemon/

The Magic Bear – Native American/Inuit

http://learningtogive.org/materials/folktales/MagicBear.asp

Masha and the Bear – Russia
http://russian-crafts.com/russian-folk-tales/masha-bear-tale.html

The Story of the Three Bears - England

http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-20.html

The Willow Wren and the Bear - Germany

http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-11.html

The Woman and Her Bear – Inuit
http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TheWomanAndHerBear-Eskimo.html

The Woman Who Had A Bear As A Foster Son - Inuit

http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/inu/eft/eft10.htm

Why the Bear is Stumpy Tailed - Norway

http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/10/the_fisherman_and_the_bear.html

BOOKS

The Children’s Book Review – Kids Winter Books: Snow Mitten, Polar Bears and Other Artic Animals

http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2010/01/kids-winter-books-snow-mittens-polar-bears-and-other-artic-animals.html

CURRICULUM                                                

10 Polar Bear Facts: PreK and K

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/pre-k-and-k-lesson-plans/58147-polar-bear-facts-lesson-plan/

Education World – Why Polar Bears Are White. Science and Art for grades K – 2.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tsl/archives/00-1/lesson0002.shtml

National Parks Service – Bear Essentials – Lesson plans using the folktale, Why the Bear Is Stumpy Tailed

https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/teachers/lessonplans/Bear-Essentials-4th-Grade-Post-visit%20activity%202.pdf

Polar Bear International – A variety of information on polar bears, including scientific studies habitats and more.
https://polarbearsinternational.org/

CRAFTS

DLTK-Kids - Polar Bear Crafts and Activities

http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/polar-bears.htm

Theme Station – Polar bear art, activities, games, recipies and more.
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/theme-station12/polar-bears-january.shtml

Twiggle Magazine - Polar Bear Puppet
http://twigglemagazine.com/January-activities/polar-bear-craft.html

SOMETHING EXTRA

Bars and Hibernation: Fun for the Little Ones – Fingerplays, songs and more.

https://karenchace.blogspot.com/2015/11/bears-and-hibernation-fun-for-little.html

Please note, websites change at a rapid pace and weblinks may change or break without notice. I cannot be responsible for redirected or broken links.  At the time of this posting all links were in working order. Thank you for understanding.

Karen Chace 2015 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.

Slow and Steady: Stor e Telling January, February, March 2012

Hare and Tortoise
from
Children's Illustrations, 1880

I have penned the Stor E Telling column since January of 2002 and the articles from 2002-2006 are the publications page of my website found here http://tinyurl.com/llnn47y . I will be adding the columns from 2007 to 2012 to that page as well. However, I am in the process of checking what link URL's have changed or are now defunct. It is a time consuming process so I am taking the “slow and steady” approach via Aesop and will post the individual columns on my blog for now.

I will not be adding current columns until the following year, so if you want immediate access to the newest websites, consider becoming a member of the National Storytelling Network. Please feel free to comment on the blog and let me know if you find this useful.

JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH 2012

Women in American Folklore

Heroines, strong women, witches, ghosts and curious girls await you.
http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/10/women_in_american_folklore.html

The Horned Women - Celtic

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cft/cft07.htm

The Miserly Old Woman – India
http://tinyurl.com/blwgcu6

The Old Woman and Her Pig - England
http://tinyurl.com/8yagce3

The Story of Two Old Women - Bangladesh

http://tinyurl.com/cdwxy7v

Old Wives Tales: an exhibition of women's fairy tale art, old and new
http://tinyurl.com/6reh7eb

A Celebration of Women Writers – “A comprehensive listing of links to bibliographical information about women writers, and complete published books written by women.”
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/writers.html

January 23 ushers in the Chinese New Year and this is the Year of the Dragon.

Dragons - Mythical, Mystical, Magical Creatures! This link http://tinyurl.com/7nhwxhx will take you to a blog post on dragons I wrote in May of 2011. This post from 2008 offers information and the legend of the twelve animals of the zodiac.
http://tinyurl.com/yfqejbk

Chinese Folklore -Short Stories for Children
http://tinyurl.com/6rdsb92

Chinese Fables and Folk Stories – Download this book by Mary Hayes Davis, Chow-Leung, from 1908.

http://tinyurl.com/yda28q4

The Royal Bridegroom
http://tinyurl.com/bmr7s8p

The Young Head of the Family

http://tinyurl.com/dx8a9l3
 
The Willow Leaf Eyebrow
http://tinyurl.com/c9qlctj

Looking for some strong heroines to add to your storytelling repertoire? The books below are filled with stories of women who definitely don’t need rescuing!

Cut from the Same Cloth: American Women of Myth, Legend and Tall Tale by Robert D. San Souci

Fearless Girls, Wise Women and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from Around the World by Kathleen Ragan

Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales and True Tales by Virginia Hamilton

The Serpent Slayer and Other Stories of Strong Women by Katrin Tchana

Tatterhood and Other Tales: Stories of Magic and Adventure by Johnston Phelps

The Woman in the Moon: And Other Tales of Forgotten Heroines by James Riordan

Women Folk and Fairy Tales by Rosemary Minard

Feminist Collection of Folktales – A Bibliography

http://www2.ferrum.edu/applit/bibs/fem.htm

March is Women’s History Month. This link will take you to a blog post I wrote in March of 2010 with stories, curriculum and more. If you are developing a storytelling venue on women  history these sites will offer valuable resources.

Storybug.net – Women in ‘Her’story!
A blog post I wrote with many resources for Women’s History Month.

http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2010/03/women-in-herstory.html

February always brings Valentine’s Day to mind but did you know that February 27 is Polar Bear Day? Here are some stories to wake you up from your deep winter hibernation!

The Bear, the Eagle and the Fish – Czechoslovakian
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/kog/kog10.htm

Bear Lake – United States

http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/the_bear_lake_monster.html

The Bear Who Married a Peasant’s Daughter - Latvia

http://www.4to40.com/folktales/index.asp?p=The_Bear_Who_Married_A_Peasants_Daughter

The Fisherman and the Bear – Maine
http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/10/the_fisherman_and_the_bear.html

The Magic Bear - Inuit

http://learningtogive.org/materials/folktales/MagicBear.asp

Masha and the Bear - Russian

http://russian-crafts.com/tales/masha.html

March winds will blow our way soon; stories and more connected to the wind. You may find them here at the link.

The Wayward Wind: Folktales for March
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/03/the-wayward-wind-folktales-for-march.html

 And if you missed any of the previous “Slow and Steady…” blog posts here are the links to the series so far.

2007

January February 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/06/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html
March April 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/06/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_30.html
May June 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html
July August 2007
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_15.html
September October 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_20.html November December 2007
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_29.html

2008

January February 2008
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html
March April 2008
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_11.html
May June 2008
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-may-june-2008.html

Summer 2008
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_25.html
Fall 2008
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html

2009

January February 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_10.html
May June 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_14.html
July August 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_21.html
September October 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_29.html
November December 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/10/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html

 2010

January February 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/10/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_13.html
April May 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/10/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_28.html

July August 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling-july.html

September October 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling.html
November December 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html

2011

January February 2011
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling-january.html

April May 2011
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling-april.html 
July August 2011
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/12/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling-july.html
September October 2011
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/12/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling.html
November December 2011
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/12/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling-november.html

 

Karen Chace 2013 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.