Where’s my teddy?

When Eddy goes looking for his Teddy, Freddy, he finds a giant teddy and thinks his Freddy has grown. At the same time, a gigantic bear believes that his teddy has shrunk. Eddy’s and the bear’s paths cross, culminating in one of the most intense dialogues in children’s literature:

“My Ted!” gasped the bear.

“A bear!” screamed Eddy.

“A boy!” yelled the bear.

“My teddy!” cried Eddy.

And they swiftly go their separate ways.

The children will notice that Freddy looks normal in size when Eddy is holding him but tiny in the bear’s hands. This is a great introduction to the mathematical concept of size. The children can think about how big a kangaroo’s teddy would be, and would you need a microscope to see an ant’s teddy? They could bring in their own teddies and sort them all by size.

If they are unsure when comparing two teddies, what instruments could they use to determine which teddy is bigger? Where else do the children encounter things of different sizes? Why is it useful to have bigger and smaller cars, for example? What happens to the children’s clothes when they’ve outgrown them? How do we know which shoes might fit us?

This is also a brilliant opportunity to combine STEM learning with promoting the children’s language development as they will be using their comparative and superlative adjectives of size: “How big is your teddy?” – “It’s bigger than yours. But Laura’s is the biggest.”