The Bear Went Over The Mountain

The Bear Went Over The Mountain is always such a great hit because it invites lots of imaginative movement and kids do love any opportunity to role play!

It’s also a great way to introduce new vocabulary and new concepts of spacial awareness. Of course, that bear can go up the mountain in any amount of different ways! And as for what he can see…. well that depends on your imagination!  The possibilities are endless.

This simple tune is borrowed from the well known, traditional song ‘For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow’ therefore it’s very quick and easy to pick up. Each time you repeat the song, make sure you introduce a different movement or concept. The bear could hop, stamp, tip-toe, creep, and each time you adjust the dynamics to fit the actions (loudly for stamping, softly for tip-toeing etc.)

If you have plenty of space, then the children love to pretend to be the bears and move accordingly. But if you prefer to keep things cosy, you can also just sing the song as a finger rhyme instead, using your legs to represent the mountain – as seen in the first video below.

 The Bear Went Over The Mountain

The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain,
To see what he could see.
And all that he could see,
And all that he could see,
Was the other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain,
Was all that he could see.

The bear went over the river,
The bear went over the river,
The bear went over the river,
To see what he could see.
And all that he could see,
Was the other side of the river,
The other side of the river,
The other side of the river,
Was all that he could see.

The bear went under,

The bear went round,

To hear what he could hear,

To smell what he could smell,

To taste what he could taste,

(sing to the tune of For he’s A Jolly Good fellow!)

Print The Bear Went Over The Mountain Sheet Music Here

Check out our Bears lesson plan for lots more Bear themed musical activities with all teaching notes, sheet music and printable resources included.