Our first tea party picnic was so much fun that Zoey has been asking when we can have another one. Teddy Bear Picnic Day is July 10, so I decided to expand on our healthy and courteous tea party picnic by having a healthy and courteous Teddy bear picnic! Zoey doesn’t spend the afternoon at my house this year on July 10, so we had our Teddy bear picnic a few days early.
As I said before, we have a number of food allergies in our family. And who knows if our invited Teddy bears don’t have allergies?! So our Teddy bear picnic menu, like all our menus, was designed to work for many with food allergies or special diets.
How to Have a Healthy and Courteous Teddy Bear Picnic – YouTube Video
In this 1 minute, 58 second video, my daughter, Christina, and Zoey (Christina’s niece) enjoy a special Teddy bear picnic with two Teddy bear friends. So sweet!
Following are our menu, items used, and the grace and courtesy lessons we emphasized.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).
Our Menu for a Healthy Teddy Bear Picnic
- Mini Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins (super-healthy and yummy muffins made using mini muffin pans and mini muffin cups)
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Warm Camomile Tea made with hot water and organic camomile tea bags (cooled to a safe temperature)
- Some people like having Teddy-bear-shaped sandwiches (peanut butter or another kind).
Items for a Teddy Bear Picnic
Items Used for a Healthy and Courteous Teddy Bear Picnic
- Ceramic Tea Set with Basket
(I chose this set because it has a pretty basket and settings for 4 … many are only settings for 2. If you get this set, be sure to save the plastic inserts if you want to store your tea set in it. I put the inserts back in the basket {just cut the tall part down to fit easily} to safely store our special-occasion tea set. Unfortunately, that set isn’t as readily available, so it’s really gone up in price. This is a similar ceramic tea set from the same company. You might also want to check out other ceramic tea sets.) - My Very First Tea Party by Michal Sparks (This is a lovely board book for a early tea parties, although you should be aware that it has a prayer in it using the word “God.” The prayer is simple and sweet if you don’t mind having a prayer at your tea party.)
- Let’s Have a Tea Party!: Special Celebrations for Little Girls by
- Corduroy (This is not a Montessori-style book because of its talking, walking Teddy bear, but it’s a sweet story and a classic.)
- A Pocket for Corduroy (Again, this has a talking, walking Teddy bear named Corduroy.)
- teaspoon as serving spoon
- small container for berries (I used a lotus dish from Montessori Services … also used for transferring activities)
- Multicraft tray for food and tea set
- Blanket or blankets (Our Teddy bear blanket was Christina’s when she was a baby!)
- Flowers that Zoey arranged.
- Food and Tea (See menu above)
- party dress
- hat (Zoey’s wearing a hat Christina wore as a toddler!)
- white gloves are often used, although we didn’t use them because of Zoey’s age.
(I chose this set because it has a pretty basket and settings for 4 … many are only settings for 2. If you get this set, be sure to save the plastic inserts if you want to store your tea set in it. I put the inserts back in the basket {just cut the tall part down to fit easily} to safely store our special-occasion tea set. Unfortunately, that set isn’t as readily available, so it’s really gone up in price. This is a Grace and Courtesy Activities Used in Our Teddy Bear Picnic
We focused on these tea-party manners:
- putting napkin on lap
- saying “yes, please” or “no, thank you”
- saying “thank you” (Zoey often said this softly in the video. Since it couldn’t be heard well over the background noise, it was edited out. Zoey does very well with her thank you’s, although she sometimes forgets. She is a 2½ year old! Whenever something is inconsistent, we just work on it again another day.)
- saying “you’re welcome” (Zoey’s starting to say “you’re welcome.” It was soft in the video, so it was edited out. It’s still too new to be totally consistent, too.)
- saying “thank you for the tea party”
Learn more about Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy (my book for teaching grace and courtesy for ages 2-12!)
This was so much fun! It isn’t considered Montessori-style to have Teddy bears at a picnic, but a Teddy bear picnic is still a great way to reinforce Montessori grace and courtesy lessons.
More Teddy Bear Resources
Free Teddy Bear Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time
- Montessori-Inspired Teddy Bear Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Brown Bear, Brown Bear Activities,
- Kids’ Teddy Bear Activities Pinterest Board
I’d love to hear about your Teddy bear picnic! 🙂
Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!
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This is just so sweet, I know my three children will love having a teddy bear picnic. Thank you for the inspiration!!
This is SO adorable! My daughter is only 4 months old at the moment, but this is definitely on our “to do list”. A great way of teaching manners in a playful way.
Thank you for sharing this!