Polar Bear Week in K–1: Art, Literacy & Math Made Simple (and So Much Fun!)

Polar Bear Week: So Much Fun

🎨 Directed Drawing

Last week I shared a FREE polar bear drawing reel on Instagram showing how to draw a super simple bear using curved arc shapes. It’s perfect for little hands and builds confidence fast.

After drawing, you can:

• Paint it with watercolor
• Add snowy backgrounds
• Turn it into a winter scene
• Label parts of the bear
• Add Arctic details

If you want printable step-by-step directions plus literacy extensions, the full Directed Drawing Pack is here:

👉 Polar Bear Directed Drawing Pack
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Polar-Bear-Directed-Drawing-Pack-Arctic-Fine-Motor-and-Writing-Activity-15588288

Turn It Into a Shared Reading & Writing Lesson

Inside the printable pack, there’s a reading passage and a “Finish the Sentence” writing page.

Here’s a simple, powerful way to model it:

• Print one copy for yourself.
• Gather students on the carpet.
• Say: “Look what I wrote today! I love learning about polar bears. Can you read it with me?” Read it together as a shared reading activity.
• Model reading strategies:
• Point to each word
• Track print left to right
• Notice capital letters
• Talk about punctuation
• Reread for fluency
• Then say: “I think YOU could write one too! What else could we write?”
• Make a class anchor chart: Polar bears have four legs. Polar bears live in the Arctic. Polar bears are good swimmers. Polar bears eat seals.
• Write student ideas on the chart.
• Then: “You can use one of our ideas to finish your page at your desk.”
• Now they’re: Reading, Generating ideas, Using a model, Writing independently

It’s structured support without doing the thinking for them.

Add Polar Bear Math Play

If you have the Winter Math Play Mats, there’s a polar bear mat that works beautifully with this theme:

👉 Winter Themed Math Play Mats
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-Themed-Math-Play-Mats-Engaging-Early-Math-Activities-12670468

Here’s a fun small group game:

🐻‍❄️ “Which Polar Bear Has More?”

Materials:

• 2 polar bear mats
• 8 dice
• Small whiteboard (optional)

How to Play:

• Roll all 8 dice.
• Any dice showing 4 get moved to one polar bear.
• Keep rolling remaining dice and removing 4s.
• After 6 rolls, any leftover dice go to the second polar bear.
• Count and compare totals.
• Now comes the math magic:
• Model how to find the total of multiple dice.
• Show strategies on a whiteboard: Count on, Make groups, Use doubles, Skip count if helpful
• Ask: “Which polar bear has more? How do you know?”
• You just built number sense, strategy discussion, AND comparison skills — and they think they’re playing a game.

Read-Aloud Connection

Pair your week with:

• How Many Legs? by Kes Gray and Jim Field
• It’s silly, engaging, and perfect for math discussion.
• When polar bears come up: “Polar bears have 4 legs!”
• Boom — instant connection to: Counting by 4s, equal groups, repeated addition, skip counting
• One good read-aloud can launch your entire math lesson.

FREE Polar Bear Paw Math Game

I also have FREE Polar Bear Paw cards that are perfect for partner play.

How to Play:

• Place 12–16 paw cards on the table.
• Students roll 2 dice.
• If they get a total OR difference of 4, they claim a paw.
• They place their color counter on it.
• Once all paws are claimed, compare.
• Ask:

“Who has more paws?”
“How many more?”
“How do you know?”

You’re reinforcing:

• Addition
• Subtraction
• Comparing numbers
• Math talk
• All with tiny polar paws on the table. 🐾

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Why This Theme Works So Well

• It’s seasonal and engaging
• It blends art, literacy, and math naturally
• It builds fine motor skills
• It supports structured writing
• It encourages math strategy talk
• It feels FUN — not forced

And the best part? Once your polar bear is drawn, you can keep building from there all week.