Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 84
The History of the Teddy Bear
Hello Everyone 
Do you take your favourite teddy to bed with you every night?
Bill and Bob my nephews do, and when they go on holiday their teddies go with them.
ln fact, people have had teddies as their companions for over a hundred years.
This is the most popular story as to how teddies first came about…
The name comes from the US President Theodore Roosevelt whose nickname was Teddy.
ln November 1902, he went on a hunting trip. Some of his attendants clubbed and tied a black bear to a tree. Roosevelt was invited to shoot the bear. He didn’t want to, but asked someone else to put it out of its misery.
The incident became the topic of a political cartoon in a newspaper called the Washington Post.
A man called Morris Michtom saw the cartoon and was inspired to make a new toy and put it in his shop window with a sign ‘Teddy’s Bear’ (after sending a bear to Roosevelt asking permission to use his name).
The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the ldeal Novelty and Toy Co.
At the same time, a German firm called Steiff, unaware of Michtom’s bear (because of the poor transatlantic communications of the time) were also producing toy bears.
There was disagreement as to who made the first bear, but in any case by 1906 the teddy bear craze had taken off. Ladies carried them everywhere, children were photographed with them and Roosevelt used one as a mascot when he tried to get re-elected.
Teddies have been around ever since.
The first bears had long snouts and looked more like real bears; nowadays, they have more baby-like features that appeal to adults buying bears for children.
Scientists who have studied teddy bear behaviour; sorry l mean human behaviour towards teddy bears, have found that younger children like to play with their teddies, whereas older children like to take them to bed with them. Adults often keep teddies and call them mascots (because they are too old to play with toys 
) and they like them because they have cute and friendly faces.
Steiff bears are now collectors’ items and very expensive to buy.
Do you have a funny or interesting teddy bear story to tell?
Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bob: Why do bears have fur coats?
Bill: l don’t know. Why do bears have fur coats?
Bob: Because they can’t get mackintoshes in their size!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
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Picture Gallery
The cartoon in the Washington Post 1902
President Teddy Roosevelt
The early Steiff teddies have a recognisable shape – this one is a replica
Paddington Bear in Trafalgar Square
Teddies have changed over the years
Bears in the wild
Who is more interested in whom?
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
Every year in Rocky Bay, there is the annual Rocky Bay Teddy Bears’ Picnic.
All children are invited and it is a ‘bring a plate’ occasion.
Bill and Bob’s mum takes a plate of ginger bread teddy bears.
After every one has eaten the most enormous picnic you have ever seen, they gather round for a sing song.
This is the version of the teddy bear song that they sing…
If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise
If you go down to the woods today, you’d better go in disguise
For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain because
Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic
Chorus
Picnic time for teddy bears the little teddy bears are having a lovely time today
Watch them, catch them unawares and see them picnic on their holiday
See them gaily gad about
They love to play and shout
They never have any cares At six o’clock their mummies and daddies will take them home to bedBecause they’re tired little Teddy Bears
If you go down to the woods today, you’d better not go alone
It’s lovely down in the woods today, but safer to stay at home
For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain because
Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic.
Chorus
Picnic time for teddy bears the little teddy bears are having a lovely time today
Watch them, catch them unawares and see them picnic on their holiday
See them gaily gad about
They love to play and shout
They never have any cares
At six o’clock their mummies and daddies will take them home to bed
Because they’re tired little Teddy Bears
Every teddy bear that’s been good is sure of a treat today
They’re lots of marvellous things to eat and wonderful games to play
Beneath the trees where nobody sees they’ll hide and seek as long as they please
Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic
Chorus
Picnic time for teddy bears the little teddy bears are having a lovely time today
Watch them, catch them unawares and see them picnic on their holiday
See them gaily gad about
They love to play and shout
They never have any cares
At six o’clock their mummies and daddies will take them home to bed
Because they’re tired little Teddy Bears
Teddy bear picnics are always tiring for children – and bears!
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Recipe Spot
Bill and Bob’s mum makes these gingerbread teddies the day before the picnic.
The first thing she does is to gather all her ingredients together and Bill and Bob help her with weighing out the ingredients.
350g/12ozes plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
120g/4 ozes butter
175g/6 ozes soft brown sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons golden syrup
- Sift the flour, bicarbonate off soda, ginger and cinnamon into a bowl
- Add the butter and mix until the mixture until it looks like fine breadcrumbs
- Add the sugar
- Beat the egg and golden syrup together gently in a separate bowl
- Add this liquid to the mixing bowl and knead until your mixture is in one smooth lump
- Put the mixture in a polythene bag or cling film and rest it in the fridge for 15 minutes
- While you are waiting for the mixture to cool pre-heat the oven to 180°C and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about ½cm/¼ inch and with a teddy shaped cookie cutter cut out as many teddy shapes as you can and lay them on the prepared baking sheets
- Bake for 12-15 minutes by which time they should be golden brown
- After 10 minutes put them on a wire rack to cool
Once they are completely cool, you can decorate them with piped icing and/or silver balls.
Bill and Bob help their mum in the kitchen, but the part they like the best is decorating the gingerbread teddies.
The teddies should then be put in an airtight box.
(Don’t forget to wash your hands before you start cooking anything.)
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HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN TEDDY
You can make the teddy bear into a football mascot by using the colours of your team. Or you could make it into a lavender bag to hang on your bedpost by incorporating a loop in the head as you sew the seams – then put a ribbon bow at the base of the loop.
Make your pattern in paper first and fold it in half to check it is symmetrical and pin it onto your fabric before your start cutting.
Felt Teddy
- Simply cut two teddy bear shapes out of felt.
- Embroider the face on using very thin yarn or embroidery thread (the eyes are French knots) in any colour you like to contrast with the fabric.
- Sew wrong sides together (felt can have sides that look different so choose the side you want to be on the outside of your teddy).
- Blanket stitch the two pieces together around the edge.
- Leave a gap at the side for stuffing.
- Use little bits of stuffing at a time because if you use large balls they will lump up.
- Continue using blanket stitch to close up the gap in the side.
You can have a different colour front and back. You can use thread that is the same colour as the fabric or contrasting.
Pattern for teddy with no seam allowance
You can make the teddy bear any size you like. If you make it really tiny, you can make it into a badge by sewing a safety pin to the back.
(Put your teddy bear pattern on a photocopier to make it any size you like.)
Tartan Teddy
Make sure that you use fabric that doesn’t fray very easily because you will be working with very small seams (1/2cm/3/8 inch). This teddy is more difficult to make than the felt teddy.
Pattern for teddy with seam allowances
You can use floral fabric with a tiny print or something bright and jazzy.
This will make your teddy unique!
- Cut out two pieces of fabric.
- Embroider the face on using very thin yarn or embroidery thread (the eyes are French knots) in any colour you like to contrast with the fabric.
- Sew seams with right sides of fabric together.
- Use running stitch or back stitch but make sure the stitching is secure.
- Leave a gap at the side.
- Turn the fabric right sides out.
- Use little bits of stuffing as you go because if you use large balls they will lump up.
- Sew up the gap in the side by using ladder stitch or over-sew neatly.
- Sew into the middle of each ear to make an indentation – this helps to improve the shape of the ear and face.
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and classroom use only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
For an Embroidery Stitches Chart
Check out Blog Post 3
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