One of our favourite books to read with The Boy is 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt' by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. My mum bought a very special pop-up edition for his first Christmas, which we kept safe until he was old enough to explore the moving parts and enjoy it properly.
The much-loved book is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and we were sent copies of the new commemorative editions to enjoy along with some additional goodies.
On the weekends we love nothing more than exploring the great outdoors and using 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt' is a wonderful stimulus for play: swishy-swashing our way through long, wavy grass; squelch-squerching in the thick, oozy mud; stumble-tripping amongst the big, dark forest; and hooo-woooing in the middle of a whirling, swirling snowstorm.
You can see other bloggers' adventures with the celebration edition of the book this week:
- Bear bread-making with Mummy Mishaps
- Inspiring Storytelling on the move with Rainy Day Mum
- Geo-caching with Mama Geek
Knowing how popular my themed mealtime creations are with The Boy, I decided that we'd celebrate by having a thick, oozy mud dinner with a big, dark forest and long, wavy grass accompanying it.
- mashed potato soil
- fine green beans sliced lengthways to create grass
- thick gravy resembling mud
- broccoli trees
It was a simple meal, something we have once a week, but presenting it in a different way is far more enticing and fun for The Boy.
Throughout the 25th anniversary year, there is an abundance of celebrations for this wonderful book. Walker Books and Read for RNIB Day are celebrating with the Guinness World Records™ record attempt for the world’s largest reading lesson. Find out more information here.

thank you for the mention 🙂
i love your bear hunt dinner idea – really clever and it ties in perfectly with the book.
As you say the book is a great prompt for lots of outdoor play and it looks like the Boy has had many bear hunt adventures in all weathers!! x
Love the Bear Hunt dinner idea, the book is a big favourite here too.
What a wonderful post. We're going on a bear hunt is a fabulous book, we have it here albeit not the pop-up version. POD loves it!
Huge congratulations on the BiB's, great to see you in there 🙂
Fantastic! It's completely beyond me why I've never thought to do a book themed lunch or outing when I love books as much as I do! Bear hunt was another of the books that I felt I 'needed' to have in our collection and after mentioning it to a friend in a passing comment she surprised me with our own copy as a gift – it's now another of our prized possessions along with our Gruffalo books 🙂 (Several years later and I still smile and think of you when we read them xx)
I love this idea! And your photos of the boy are gorgeous