Remove ads

We Are Going on a Bear Hunt – Home Activity for Kids | ESL Video

Name: We Are Going on a Bear Hunt – Home Activity for Kids | ESL Video
Uploaded: 2026-03-09T09:41:05+02:00
Duration: 3 min 45 s
Channel: English Task
Description: Watch We Are Going on a Bear Hunt and try this fun home activity for kids. A great ESL listening and speaking activity based on the classic story.

Michael Rosen's story with its repeated lines and sounds, plus an activity to do at home. The repetition is the lesson: children are saying the words themselves by the third obstacle.

Michael Rosen's story survives in classrooms because of its repetition. Every obstacle brings the same lines – We can't go over it, we can't go under it, oh no, we've got to go through it – so children hear one structure five or six times in as many minutes and are saying it themselves before the bear appears.

Give each obstacle a movement and a sound: swishy swashy for the long grass, squelch squerch for the mud, hoooo woooo for the snowstorm. Children join with their hands and feet first and with the words a moment later, which is exactly the order in which young learners acquire language.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes We're Going on a Bear Hunt so good for English learners?

The repetition. Every obstacle follows the same lines – "We can't go over it, we can't go under it, oh no, we've got to go through it" – so children hear the same structure again and again and are saying it themselves by the third page.

Who wrote it?

Michael Rosen, with pictures by Helen Oxenbury. Rosen's own performance of the story, with sounds and actions for the grass, the mud and the snowstorm, is what turned it into a classroom standard.

How do I act the story out at home?

Give every obstacle a movement and a sound: swishy swashy for the grass, squelch squerch for the mud. Children join with their hands and feet before they join with words, and the words follow within a couple of readings.