Ready Brek Goes on a Bear Hunt

We're Going on a Bear Hunt has been our favourite book for many many years. It was Aaron's nursery that first got me into it and I was amazed that Aaron was able to finish each line of the book at such a young age (2 years and 4 months) so recorded him doing so. Aww listening to that has made me all nostalgic for my baby boy Aaron and makes me want to hear little Lottie speak. Very soon after that video was recorded we of course quickly bought our own copy of We're Going on a Bear Hunt and it was one that came with a copy of the DVD, which literally animates the illustrations, perfectly!

I've always been a huge fan of Ready Brek! In fact me and my Step Dad used to take it in turns to make it for each other every morning all through my teens. I had to be careful because I like it literally so that the spoon can stand up in it whereas he liked it runny. Actually even in recent years (well pre-2012 when I got made redundant) me and my colleague used to get to work early and make it for each other. Spooky but I have just realised that they are both Virgo (I think) so that's a funny lil coincidence.

I was delighted to discover that Ready Brek make versions for children as you can see above AND have teamed up with our favourite book We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Aaron likes to have his Ready Brek in his favourite bowl. A bowl he's had since his Christening many years ago. It also features a bear. The most famous of bears.

I recently had my friend (pictured left of me above) over and she brought along her friend, which means we had 3 hungry pre-schoolers for a play date pre-lunchtime. They were aged: Lottie 16 months, Arthur 18 months and Timmy nearly 3 years. I was very excited to get the Ready Brek Super Fast Sachets Chocolate Flavour Super Smooth Oats out. Being that you can microwave them in 90 seconds I knew my guests would barely notice that their hostess had disappeared inside for a moment. Whilst they supervised the kids playing with water in the garden (we've had a heatwave don't you know) I snuck in and microwaved some oats for our 3 Bears. Yes just call me Goldilocks:

I was pleased that like me, the 2 other Mums also licked the spoon and discovered what I had done with Lottie - that it tastes delicious. Also..... as one Mum pointed out. NOT TOO SWEET! And interestingly she knew it would be because it contains cocoa and it does. So the verdict was that Lottie ate about half (it's very filling). I was thrilled as it means I got to finish it. Arthur at 18 months ate it all as well as a banana but he took probably 30 minutes to eat it, grazing on it on and off. I don't think his Mum got a look in. Timmy who will be 3 years of age soon, was the biggest bear and wanted seconds, but his Mum was polite and didn't let me make it. You'll see above I gave him the biggest spoon to distinguis him from the "babies". Try this Ready Brek for yourself it really really is yummy. Oh and don't fret about measuring the 125 mls (of milk or water) you just fill the sachet up to the fill line and in it pops. Forgive me that I don't have pics of the kids eating it, but us Mummies were focusing on keeping very busy little ones in one place to eat and I didn't have their permission to feature pics (plus I was too shy to ask).

So in celebration of the collaboration between Ready Brek and We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Lottie, Aaron and I went on our very own Bear Hunt today and as with the book we started with the 

Long Wavy Grass

Uh-uh! Grass! Long wavy grass! We can't go over it! We can't go under it! Oh no we've got to go through it.

On the back of the Ready Brek cereal is a brilliant cut out which helps you to create your very own Bear Hunt.

We actually didn't stick to the order on the cut-out as walking through grass is number 3 and building a cave is number 7. But we did very well as it only says to "imagine walking through long grass" whereas as you can see above we had a lot of fun doing so for real on the way back from church this morning. Our cave followed very soon after. It was an imaginary one in the sense that it was a tunnel, but we definitely went "through it" ;-) Aaron very much striving well ahead on his scooter, going through the cave well before a walking Mummy and a snoozing Lottie:

Put on your wellies is actually number 2 and we did that when we got home from Church except one wellie was downstairs and one was upstairs (glares at Aaron) so it was an adventure in itself just to find them GGgggggrrr, in this case I am the bear and I am a grizzly growling one! 

With wellies on it was time to find a 

Deep Cold River

The cut out on the back of Ready Brek asks the kids to find a puddle and see who can splash the most. Well even though our heatwave is over since Wednesday night, we don't have any puddles but we did have a murky old paddling pool that needed emptying so we created our very own river with a little bit of water and a lot of imagination. We emptied the paddling pool (which needed doing anyway so we could clean it ready for the next heatwave whenever that may be) and turned it into our Bear Hunt river:

The Bear Hunt on the back of the box of Ready Brek concludes with the words Yum Yum so we took that as a sign Aaron had now earned a bowl of Ready Brek. He didn't get a look in with the Chocolate sachets as all of them were long gone during school hours in days gone by (looks at Lottie) so he had his exactly as it shows on the box - with strawberries - which conveniently he'd chosen in the weekly food shop a few days ago. He also added honey as what bear doesn't like honey :-)

Brand new Ready Brek packs featuring beautiful artwork from the We're Going On A Bear Hunt film are in store now. Each pack comes complete with an original Bear Hunt Guide on the back, suggesting games and activities showing kids how to go on their very own bear hunt swishy-swashing through grass and splash-sploshing through puddles. Packs also include on the back a delicious recipe, with 3 different ones to collect: Bear Hunt Banana Muffins, Protein-packed Bear Hunt Bites and Bear Hunt Blueberry and Apple Flapjacks which are all nutritionally balanced, energy boosting snacks that will keep little adventurers going.

The We're Going on a Bear Hunt Ready Brek pack to buy is one that looks like this, below. As you will see, top right corner, all of the ingredients are green traffic light rated. This for me, especially with breakfast cereal which sets them up for the day, is very important.

Ready Brek is made from finely milled wholegrain oats and flour, vitamins and minerals, with no added salt or sugar. Packed with Calcium for healthy bones and teeth, Vitamin D for a healthy immune system, Protein for healthy muscles and oats for healthy digestion, along with Iron, Vitamin B1, B6 and B12, Ready Brek delivers a super smooth and nutritious start to the day.

For this We're Going on a Bear Hunt adventure we were sent both of the Ready Brek boxes you see featured above: Ready Brek Original Super Smooth Oats and a box of 6 of the Super Fast Sachets Chocolate Ready Brek. I was delighted that we also received:

We're Going on A Bear Hunt My Explorer's Journal and

We're Going on A Bear Hunt My Adventure Field Guide.

These books are so super I think I will include them in their very own blog post. You can see the spines of them in the very first photo at the top of this blog post.