Bear pattern for a waldorf 1st grade

The cool thing about being a Handwork teacher is that there is immense freedom in what you teach, how you teach it and creating your own patterns.

A book that I often use (and love to alter or get ideas from for 1st and 2nd grade) is the

A First Book of Knitting for Children and

Knitted Animals by Anne-Dorthe Grigaff

http://www.amazon.com/First-Book-Knitting-Children/dp/0946206554/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1248780911&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Knitted-Animals-Education-Anne-dorthe-Grigaff/dp/1903458684/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1248781016&sr=8-1


If you don't have a book budget at your school....you should ask for one!

The lion pattern I use is from "a first book of knitting for children"
and in the past I used the pig pattern for 5th grade instead of the horse...they actually liked it more than the horse....but the horse is a little more wakeful

The Bear pattern I make with my 1st graders....I made up.

Here it is

Brown Sheep is the wool I use....and I use Bulky yarn because they see faster results with that yarn and when you stuff bulky it doesn't show the stuffing inside as well as the worsted weight does.
http://brownsheep.com/

starting at the bottom (where the back legs are)
cast on 28 stitches
Knit 7 rows
cast off 7 stitches ....knit across the row and on the next needle cast off another 7 stitches
this will be the back legs
Now knit the belly for 3 to 4 rows
cast on 7 stitches for the right leg ...knit across the row and on the next needle cast on another 7 stitches for the left leg
Knit 7 rows
cast off 10 stitches on the right arm....Knit across the row and on the next needle cast off another 10 stitches.
There should be 8 stitches left for the head
Knit 5 rows
Sew up and stuff while you sew .
I have the kids sew up their legs first...head and last belly