The Very Cranky Bear: My Favourite Character is a versatile activity designed to accompany a whole class reading of the picture book The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland. These no-prep worksheets provide a meaningful way to check your students’ understanding of the text while encouraging creativity and personal response.

To complete the task, students record their favourite character from the story. The resource includes multiple worksheet options to suit a range of learning needs, allowing you to easily differentiate for your class. Students can simply draw their favourite character, draw and complete a sentence about it, or draw and write a short paragraph to explain their choice.

The Very Cranky Bear: My Favourite Character is ideal for independent work, small group tasks, scribing, assessment evidence, or your relief teaching folder. It provides an engaging opportunity for students to reflect on the story and share their personal responses in both visual and written formats.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Respond personally to a familiar text
• ✅ Identify and describe a character in a story
• ✅ Practise drawing and writing to communicate ideas
• ✅ Develop comprehension and text-to-self connections
• ✅ Promote creativity and personal expression

What’s Included:

• Drawing their favourite character in the story
• Drawing their favourite character and finishing a sentence to describe it (24mm and 18mm lines)
• Drawing and writing a short paragraph about their favourite character (24mm and 18mm lines)

Materials Needed:

• Printed The Very Cranky Bear: My Favourite Character worksheets
• Pencils, crayons, markers or paint (optional)
• Optional craft materials for extension activities

How to Use:

1. Read The Very Cranky Bear with your class.
2. Discuss the different characters and encourage students to think about their favourite.
3. Distribute the chosen worksheet option based on student needs.
4. Students complete the worksheet by drawing and/or writing about their favourite character.
5. Encourage students to share their work with the class or display it in the classroom.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Use as an independent comprehension task after reading The Very Cranky Bear.
• 💡 Include in a small group literacy rotation or guided reading follow-up activity.
• 💡 Use for assessment evidence of comprehension and text response skills.
• 💡 Add to a relief folder as a quick, no-prep literacy activity linked to a well-known text.

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Enlarge worksheets to A3 for Early Years and Foundation students to allow more space for drawing and writing.
• 💛 Turn the activity into an art project by:
  • Placing the drawing template on an easel for students to paint on
  • Providing magazines and newspapers for collage making
  • Offering craft materials such as pom poms, pipe cleaners and buttons for a 3D image of their favourite character
• 💛 Encourage students to explain why they chose their favourite character to promote oral language development.

The Very Cranky Bear: My Favourite Character is a fun and flexible way to build comprehension, creativity, and personal response skills. It’s the perfect companion to your class exploration of this much-loved text!

Check out more amazing resources related to The Very Cranky Bear in our The Very Cranky Bear PACKAGE.

Available in our basic fun font and all Australian state fonts.