Daddy Loves the Bear
	A story to introduce this song to children
	by Arva Frank
	I have discovered that telling a story about the characters in a song enhances the children's enjoyment of a game.
	There is a special teddy bear named Cuddles who "lives" in the music room. The children are very fond of him and think of him as a person. He is held by them when they are sad, angry, hurt and happy; he helps the children solve their problems. Following is the story I tell five to seven-year-old students to introduce the song "Daddy Loves the Bear."
	Before Cuddles came to live in the music room he belonged to a little boy name Danny. Today I'm going to tell you a very special story about Danny and Cuddles. On Wednesday, Danny ran home from school as fast as he could because he and Cuddles were going to Danny's soccer game.
	When he ran into the house, Danny called in a loud voice for Cuddles. Instead of Cuddles running to greet him, Danny's mother met him and said, "Oh, Danny, you'll have to be very quiet. Daddy came home from work today because he is sick. We won't be able to go to your soccer game. Please play very quietly so you don't disturb Daddy."
	Danny was very disappointed about the soccer game but he felt sorry for Daddy. After dinner Danny and Cuddles went upstairs to say goodnight to Daddy, who was feeling a little better. He said, "Danny, you and Cuddles come sit beside the bed and tell me what you did at school today." As Danny spoke, Cuddles slipped under the covers and fell sound asleep. Because Daddy was sick, Danny decided to let Cuddles spend the night with him. He kissed Daddy goodnight and tiptoed to his own room. You won't believe what happened!
	In the middle of the night Cuddles fell out of bed into Daddy's briefcase, which was lying open on the floor. When he fell in, the cover of the briefcase slammed shut!
	The next morning Daddy felt better. He got ready for work, picked up his briefcase, went to the car, threw his briefcase into the back seat of the car and slammed the car door shut. Cuddles didn't wake up! Daddy's car bounced over the railroad tracks, went up and down hills, and swerved around a lot of curves. Cuddles still slept.
	When Daddy got to work he took the elevator up to his office, which was on the top floor of the building. Well, guess what happened when the elevator started to go up! Cuddles woke up. He didn't know where he was. It was pitch black. He couldn't see anything! He was very frightened and started to cry.
	When Daddy heard the sound, he wondered where it was coming from. He got off the elevator and still heard the crying sound while he was walking down the hall. He went into his office and the sound was there too! Daddy looked around but couldn't see anyone crying. He decided he would get busy. He put his brief case on his desk, opened it up and said, (at this point you can pick Cuddles up from the floor and talk to him with a tender expression] "Cuddles, what are you doing in my brief case? You are crying. So that's what the sound was. How in the world did you get into my brief case? Oh, you are so frightened!" Cuddles couldn't stop crying, so Daddy sang this song to him.
	I sing the song 4 or 5 times while hugging Cuddles and he finally stops crying. I tell the class he still is a little frightened and ask if a child would like to hold him while we sing. We continue to pass him to as many children who want a turn. The children decide when Cuddles has had enough love, and a child puts him down for a nap in Daddy's office. On subsequent days we vary the game so the child decides what s/he is going to do for the turn. One of the favorite things to do is feed him and then discuss what he ate.
	Source: Daddy Loves the Bear Bennett, P.O. & Bartholomew, D.R. (in press, 1996). Songworks 1: Singing in the Education of Children. Belmont,CA:Wadsworth Publishing, Chap.9