Courageous Joy

First Field Trip of the Year - Snuggle Factory

Our school day began with a field trip. We're beginning our study on the 20th Century. I LOVE this time period as my Grams was born then. I can picture her life as a girl in the midst of all the inventions etc that we are studying about. One fun thing we learned last week was that Theodore Roosevelt, the President, was a big hunter. However, he refused to shoot a bear cub on one of his hunts. An energizing young man and his wife made a stuffed bear based on the cartoon in the media, named it "Teddy's Bear" and sent it to the whitehouse. The rest is history!!!

For years I've heard some of you talk about the "Build a Bear" shops around the nation. We've never been near one. Truth be known I HATE malls - but here our mall is just the right size...there may have been a Build a Bear in Anchorage. {G} A few months ago, a shop called "Snuggle Factory" opened in our small mall. In talking with the owner, I discovered her dh is retired military. They brought their factory to town as a sort of "small town Build a Bear". When we read about the Teddy Bear's origin, I immediately thought of taking the kids to the Sunggle Factory to see how a bear is made.

First we picked the shells of the animals the kids wanted to make. Photo won't load.

Stacia loved playing with the flat bears best of all...again anything can be a teether.

Here we learn how eyes are put on stuffed animals in general.

The kids ran the "stuffing machine".

Each bear has a "wish" burried in it. The kids took the star, held it over their hearts, made a wish, kissed the star, and put it in the bear. I cried. {g}

It was fun. I suggested to her that a fun thing to do would be homeschool field trips (or school field trips). I told her she could read the little Legend of the Teddy Bear book, show how a bear is made, and then let those who want to make a bear. She liked the idea. She said she'd give us a discount if I arranged a homeschool field trip. Maybe....