Who is Barnaby Bear?

You may have noticed a little brown bear in some of the pictures - here's his story. Barnaby Bear first appeared in the early 1990s as a geography teaching aid to help children learn about other places using a familiar concept - a teddy! Schools have an option to buy or make a Barnaby Bear and to join the scheme by exchanging information with each other. The bear travels to various places then pictures and text are used in his school and on his website for other schools and children to access. The idea is for children who do not travel and have no idea of other places and cultures to learn via Barnaby and his website.

The Cholsey Bear was born in 1997 and has travelled to Australia, Portugal, Spain, Florida, Holland, St Louis, New Zealand, The Caribbean, Germany, Canada, France and more recently Kodumela and Baltimore. He has a cousin in Australia, Kenny Koala, and a new friend in Baltimore, who he writes to. He also has a cousin who has emigrated to Cholsey from Canada.

To prepare for trips children can be involved in looking at different aspects of the journey. Some of the children in Cholsey School spent a lesson looking at where Barnaby was going, how far it was, how to get there, what it would be like, what he would be doing, what he would need to take and even worked out a baggage allowance based on the personal allowance for humans - he was allowed 230g and had to wear his fleece, hat and camera, as they were too heavy to pack! Each Bear has a passport which is stamped at customs, not always but on the Kodumela trip Barnaby's was stamped both ways.

The bears have a range of clothes suitable for different climates. The Cholsey Bear has a fairly extensive wardrobe because Julie, a teacher at Cholsey, and her daughters are always on the look out for new stuff, she made his safari shorts and his Cholsey Primary School T-shirt! Barnaby's Kodumela diary and some photographs will be included in the official magazine and the Cholsey Bear will be featured on the official website as the trip to Kodumela was so different from the more usual tourist areas he visits. Visit www.barnabybear.co.uk to see his story. The picture shows Barnaby relaxing by the pool with his good friend Val.