“There’s a Polar Bear In our Frigidaire—He likes it ’cause it’s cold in there. With his seat in the meat, And his face in the fish, And his big hairy paws In the buttery dish…”  ~Shel Silverstein, A Light in the Attic

I am a Shel Silverstein groupie…have been since I was a kid. We read a lot of his poems and stories here at Small Potatoes. My 7 yr old daughter’s favourite book is The Missing Piece. The Giving Tree makes us all cry. Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic are staples around here.

If you haven’t read “Bear in There”…google it or open your copy of A Light in the Attic and give it a read. It’s super fun. It inspired our polar ice cap play world for today’s post. We were reading it together and started discussing polar bears and where they REALLY should be living, even though it would be fun to find one in your fridge!

The smalls decided the polar bears need snow, ice, a cozy place to sleep, and good company so they won’t be lonely up there in the cold and icy north…

Step 1:  We wanted our play world to have snow, but didn’t want it to melt inside the house, so we used a really cool thing called “snow in a can.” It is a non-toxic decorative snow you can find in the dollar store, Christmas sections of department stores, and at Michaels. You just add water and stir! It is NOT recommended for children under 3. 

Step 2:  The little cotton pellets we used can be found a medical supply stores. You could use regular size cotton balls if you can’t get your hands on any smaller ones…

Step 3: Acrylic ice cubes were purchased at Michaels Craft Superstore and added to the polar landscape…

Step 4:  Polar bears! Ours are tiny and are made by Safari Ltd. You can use bigger ones if you’d like.

And there you have it! An icy, snowy play world for your polar bears, that won’t make your fingers cold or melt in your house!The smalls wasted no time in arranging and landscaping the bin…The 3 and up crowd took turns playing in the small world until it was home time. Spending the afternoon with Shel Silverstein, snow, and polar bears is a really good idea. You should try it sometime. 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Arlee, Small Potatoes