I did this lesson with kindergarten and first grade. It takes 3 separate sessions. I kicked this off by reading Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? For first graders, I showed the excellent video "Picture Maker" (1993) about Eric Carle and then read the book to them the following week.
Warning: As Pattie did, I too used tracer templates for the bear shape. Alternatively, you can allow students to create their own bear tracer. If you do that, I suggest an extra week to draw a HUGE shape of a bear and maybe put out pictures of bears or bring in stuffed bears or large 3D cast or toy bear to draw from. Your choice!
Week One: Paint the bear paper (set out brown, black, tan, and white tempera paint with small sponges on large sheets of white paper). For the leaf paper, use orange, yellow, and red paint. I set out various items to then create texture on the papers such as q-tips to dip into the white paint to add a few marks. and toothpicks or toothbrushes to use to scratch fur marks. Demo how to make waves of different colors randomly so that the end result will be more interesting and not "stripey". Have some students paint the leaf paper. Let dry. Students will share the painted papers but you can also let each child make their own.
Week Two: Trace, Cut and Glue Down Bears - Using a tracer is hard for kindy and first graders. Show students how to hold down one another’s tracers as they trace the bear shapes on the unpainted side of the brown papers. Next, students cut out two legs (or 4), a body, and head of their bear. Then use Elmer’s glue along edges of shapes (one at a time). Glue their bear together onto a large light blue or light green background paper. Lay one bear piece down at a time, and have them press their whole hand down to hold it after gluing and count to 40!
Week Three: Add Details - Using black crayon, color in a dot for the nose, add claws and an eye. Warn them not to go crazy with the crayon! To make ears, cut out a small circle and cut in half from pre-painted paper. Glue the two semi-circle ears onto the head. Add a small circle for the tail. Lastly, trace and cut out leaves from the pre-painted leaf paper and glue 2 or 3 leaves onto the background.