BUILD A BEAR’S THANKSGIVING PLATE

(Designed in the same quick, hands-on style as the bat activities in your Blogs & KWs PDF.)

Bears

Print & go

Run with a class

(Designed in the same quick, hands-on style as the bat activities in your Blogs & KWs PDF.)

Time: 10 minutes

Subjects: Ecology • Food Webs • Science

Have students create a black bear’s Thanksgiving plate using cut-out images or drawn foods. They must include:

3 berries
2 nuts
1 insect
1 optional salmon
1 hazard (human food source)

Which foods give the most calories?
Which foods are the safest?
Which human foods could accidentally attract a bear?
How could we help keep bears wild during Thanksgiving season?

It’s a simple, visual way to correct the myth of “bear as meat-eater” and show what they really rely on.

Questions to ask

Which foods give the most calories?
Which foods are the safest?
Which human foods could accidentally attract a bear?
How could we help keep bears wild during Thanksgiving season?

Where it comes from

Every November, American families gather around tables laden with turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and all the trimmings. But while we obsess over recipes and relatives, another North American resident is preparing its own version of a Thanksgiving meal, one far older, wilder, and more essential.

The American Black Bear doesn’t celebrate the holiday, of course. But if a bear did prepare a Thanksgiving feast, it would look very different from the stereotype we imagine.

No turkey legs.

Read the blog post ↗ The Black Bear’s Perfect Thanksgiving Meal: Nature’s Real Feast · 2025-11-21

Workspace

Run it with your class

Set up the class, count what needs counting, write down what happened, then save it and take it with you. Everything here stays in this browser until you download it.

The class

Class or group Date Students Students per group

Counters

Results table

Notes as you go

This activity has no numbered steps, so use the notes box.

Anything else: what worked, what to change

Answers to the questions

Which foods give the most calories? Which foods are the safest? Which human foods could accidentally attract a bear? How could we help keep bears wild during Thanksgiving season?

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