Jesse Bear, Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear (And The UPS Store Giveaway)

“Wanna wear shorts! Don’t wanna wear jacket! Nooo hat!”

Sounds familiar? Then you probably have a toddler! They’re adorable, funny, and very, very stubborn.

We offer only weather and age-appropriate outfits, give them choice within those boundaries, and still, it is ten degrees below zero and your toddler wants to wear sandals!

We created a paper doll project that helps young children understand and choose weather-appropriate clothing in every season.

Materials

• templates (you could also use photographs)
• markers/crayons/pencils and stickers/glitter/etc.
• scissors
• laminate paper
• adhesive Velcro strips

Instructions

1. First, print out the templates.  There are a number available but we went with these. You could also draw additional clothes (my daughter wanted a tutu for her bear).  Another option would be to use photographs of your children and their own clothing.

2. Color and decorate the bear and the clothes. It is interesting to notice that, even though we do not do a lot of coloring sheets, my daughter has internalized the rules for coloring in the lines and filling the white space whereas my son has not.

3. Cut out the shapes.

4. Laminate.  You can use the adhesive clear contact paper or, we headed over to The UPS Store and asked them to laminate for us.  The laminate process they use produces a nice, stiff, sturdy plastic.

5. Add velcro to the front of your bear and to the back of the clothes.

6. Dress your bear to match the weather!

Books to Help Toddlers Dress for the Day and the Weather

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?: One of our favorite storybooks about getting dressed features the playful Jesse Bear. Throughout the day, from pajamas to playtime to lunch to bath to bedtime again, Jesse Bear shares what he’ll wear in fun, engaging rhymes.

Clementine’s Winter Wardrobe features a cat imagining all the clothes she will need for the winter–I think she has almost as many clothes as my daughter! The color pencil drawings give the book a sweet, dreamy look.

More Educational Laminating Fun

• At The UPS Store, Mel at Mama Buzz laminates a clock sign for her husband’s store–this would be perfect for helping children learn to tell time, too!
• Allison McDonald at No Time for Flashcards laminates her DIY Eye Spy Books.
• MaryLea at Pink and Green Mama used Mod Podge to make these puzzles from calendars but I think laminating the photographs could work well, too!
• Unplug Your Kids has the secret code!  Laminate your decoder key and let the espionage begin!
• Chasing Cheerios says that laminating is the key for turning workbooks into reusable learning sheets–I think this would be fun for learning everything from letters to numbers to words to musical notation!

—GIVEAWAY!—

The UPS Store would like my readers to have the opportunity to experience the convenience for themselves. They have given me $250 worth of gift cards to give away!

Prizes:

• One (1) Grand Prize Winner will receive $75 worth of gift cards to The UPS Store
• Two (2) First Prize Winners will receive $50 worth of gift cards to The UPS Store
• Three (3) Second Prize Winners will receive $25 worth of gift cards to The UPS Store

To Enter:
You can enter 1-3 times by completing any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

• Leave a comment on this post sharing how you can use the services at The UPS Store for education or just let me know your favorite thing about The UPS Store.
• “Like” Naturally Educational and The UPS Store on facebook and leave a separate comment (just one for “liking” both) to let me know.
• Subscribe to the Naturally Educational e-mail digest and make sure to confirm your subscription and leave a separate comment to let me know.

Winners will be chosen at random from valid entries. Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST February 7, 2011.

Disclosure: I am writing this post in part as a paid The UPS Store Brand Ambassador and in conjunction with the Lovin’ Logistics campaign at Collective Bias. All opinions stated here are my own and are not affected by compensation.