We're going on a bear hunt!

Gael Force Winds, a wind trio from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, came to Sanday School, Orkney, to work with the children on a short musical production based on the children's story 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'.

The nursery children were asked to create artwork based on some of the themes described in the book. They set off on a bear hunt, which lasted four weeks.

The children took video and stills cameras to record what they found on their bear hunt. Finally, the whole project was documented in a PowerPoint presentation. The complete Bear Hunt presentation can be downloaded here, or you may choose to download it in sections.

Download the complete presentation

Download the presentation in sections

Section 1: Grass

We found dune grass that was 'sharp', 'spiky, like a hedgehog', 'scruffy', 'swishy swashy'. Then we talked about 'Wheat Field with Crows' by Van Gogh, projected the image onto a large sheet of paper and used finger paints to copy it. And then we made our own paintings.

Section 2 - Mud

We found mud that was 'quite firm', 'very wet', 'shallow' and some mud was very deep! Back at the nursery, we experimented making mud with compost and with clay. 

Then we talked about paintings by Jackson Pollock and thought they looked like 'splashes of mud'. We made our own splashy pictures by using a pipette to squirt black paint onto the paper. Then we dragged string through the paint.

We worked together to make a large squirty picture. Then we tried mud ball painting. We painted with our hands, our feet and our bodies.

Section 3 - A river

We filmed water and saw 'reflections', 'light', 'sparkle water', 'ripples', 'shining moving', 'splishy splashy swishing', 'bubbling', 'plop'. Then we talked about 'Water Lilies (The Clouds)' by Claude Monet. We looked to see how Monet had used lines of paint to show the ripples and reflections in the water in 'Bathing at la Grenouillère' and then we made a reflection collage. We used a whiteboard and a paint program and chalk to paint more water lilies.

Section 4 - A Forest

We visited the forest and saw 'knobbly trees', 'branches that were long, straight and tall', 'sharp and spiky leaves', 'floppy and soft leaves'. Some trees were 'brown and had no leaves at all'. Some trees 'poked up into the sky'. Some were 'crissy-crossy like a spider's web'.

We made a leaf collage and then used chalks and charcoal to make forest pictures. After we talked about lots of paintings of trees, we worked together to make a dark forest collage.

Section 5 - A cave

When we visited the caves, we saw 'beautiful coloured rocks', 'red and green rocks', 'beautiful shapes', 'lovely patterns', and thought that 'some stones looked like bears'. We created our own 'cave paintings' using chalk.

Section 6 - Display and performance

The final section describes how we displayed our artwork and how we worked with Gael Force Winds to create a musical production.