Old Bear Stories

Bramwell Brown remembers his friend, Old Bear, who, a long time ago, was put away in the attic for safe keeping. Bramwell and his friends decide to get Old Bear back down to the playroom but it’s a long way up to the attic and they don’t have a ladder. The friends try some dramatic and heroic rescue attempts, but nothing quite works until they remember the little toy plane. Little Bear finally manages to get up to the attic safely but how will he bring Old Bear down again? Luckily Bramwell Brown has a plan…

Old Bear has just finished packing a picnic basket full of food when Little Bear dashes in, followed by the other toys. They are all playing hide-and-seek but, unfortunately, they have forgotten to choose a seeker. Old Bear agrees to look for them and soon finds everyone except Little Bear. After they have searched high and low they decide to eat their picnic and then search again. But a surprise awaits them when they open the lid of the picnic basket!

The bed where all the toys sleep is getting rather crowded. When Old Bear falls out and bumps his head the toys decide it would be a good idea to try and find somewhere else to sleep. They try all sorts of strange sleeping places; drawers, baskets, bowls and hammocks but there always seems to be a problem. In the end Old Bear comes up with the perfect solution and, at last, there is plenty of room for them all to sleep.

A mysterious box arrives in the playroom. After approaching it cautiously the toys discover it contains a new friend; Jolly Tall the giraffe. With Jolly still inside, everyone sets to work to turn his box into a cosy house for him. There is a problem though; Jolly is too tall to get out of the door! Using a toy crane, the friends finally manage to rescue Jolly and Jolly, in return, performs a rescue of his own. In the end the toys find that something Bramwell has been knitting all week turns out to be the perfect present for their new playmate.

Little Bear wakes up to find he has lost his trousers. After visiting his friends, one by one, he discovers they have all been using the trousers in very untrousery ways; as a sail for a boat, as a skiing hat, to carry bricks and as a flag. Little Bear is quite upset when he finally finds Bramwell Brown using the red trousers as an icing bag! But the cake Bramwell has made saves the day when it becomes a ‘Trousers Day’ cake and Little Bear finally gets his beloved trousers back.

There has been a party in the playroom and the toys can see that there is lots of food left on the table, but it is just out of reach. Little Bear explores underneath the tablecloth and discovers that it looks just like a circus tent; a starting point for a wonderful new game. Many of the toys want to perform in the circus and others come to watch. It is Rabbit who turns out to be the star of the show and he, accidentally, solves the problem of the out-of-reach food.

It is a wet afternoon and the rain is coming in the playroom window and dripping through a hole in the dolls’ house roof. The poor Doll family don’t know what to do; all their things are getting wet. The toys dream up lots of ingenious ways of mending the hole, but nothing really works until Little Bear finds a solution quite by chance. While standing on the roof, clutching his umbrella, he accidentally falls through the leaky hole and the Doll family are delighted with the surprising repair.

Old Bear and Bramwell Brown find an old basket full of bits and pieces and all the toys decide to have a fancy-dress competition. Old Bear agrees to be the judge. The toys have great fun making their costumes and they parade them proudly in front of Old Bear. The parade starts well but soon ends in chaos. Luckily Old Bear finds a way to make sure that everyone’s a winner in the end.

Little Bear finds Bramwell Brown examining a piece of tinfoil. Together they make some silver cups, and this gives Rabbit an idea. He suggests they have a sports day and use the cups as trophies for the winners of each race. They have a sock race, a potato and spoon race and a six-legged race. Little Bear begins to feel rather sad because he is sure he won’t win a prize; he is just too small to beat the others. However, his friends find a way to cheer him up and in the end, he has a surprising bit of luck.

Little Bear decides to grow an apple tree as a surprise for Old Bear. With help from his friends he manages to plant an apple pip in a flower pot. He is disappointed to hear that, despite watering it and keeping it warm, his pip could take years to grow into a tree. However, while he is waiting, Bramwell Brown finds a way that they can help Little Bear make an instant tree that will really surprise Old Bear.

One cold morning Old Bear decides all the toys should go for a picnic. They pack lots of hot food, wrap up warmly and pull the picnic basket to the top of a hill on a little cart. After enjoying the food and playing lots of games they realise how cold they are and climb into the basket to keep warm. Imagine their surprise when the picnic ends with a rather bumpy, and very exciting, journey home.

Jolly Tall has never seen snow and he wishes it would snow today. The other toys try to find ways to show him what snow is like. They all have fun making pretend snow out of flour, paper decorations, bubbles and feathers. Bramwell even makes snowflake biscuits. They are so busy enjoying themselves they almost forget to look out of the window. What a surprise they have when they do.

Old Bear and his friends have decorated the playroom for Christmas. But Little Bear and Bramwell suddenly notice the dolls’ house; forgotten in a dark corner of the playroom, it has no Christmas decorations at all. The two friends have an idea and while Rabbit and Duck entertain the Doll family, the others all work quickly to decorate their house with a tiny Christmas tree and lots of miniature decorations. The dolls have a wonderful surprise when they return and declare it is the best Christmas they have ever had.

When the excitement of Christmas seems to be over, Old Bear finds a surprising way to remind the other toys of the fun they have had over the festive season. This compilation of ‘The WinterPicnic’, ‘The Doll’s House Christmas’ and ‘Jolly Snow’ has added extras to keep everyone happy, including ‘Old Bear’.