You know a book is part of popular culture when the Met Police starts referencing it. ‘We’re going on a bear hunt!’ tweeted the Kingston bobbies last month when they discovered a huge weed forest. Michael Rosen’s 26-year-old picture-book classic in which a family goes looking for a bear through a forest forms the basis for this immersive exhibition for babies to 11-year-olds – kids can feel the swishy-swashy grass, crouch down to inspect tiny ursine model scenes in floor-level glass boxes, and crawl through a tot-sized tunnel to the ‘narrow gloomy cave’ filled with a furry family of lolling bears. It’s a wonderfully atmospheric way to bring the rhythmic story to life.
The preschool and early primary school crowd were enthralled when we visited (cries of ‘There’s Michael Rosen!’ erupted with a giddiness usually reserved for One Direction). For older kids, there are gleefully silly word games to get creative with, inspired by Rosen’s comic rhymes. They can write a mad meals poem in a chocolate cake kitchen or play with word tiles in a recreation of the author’s classroom complete with the terrifyingly big cane that his teacher used on him.
The exhibition works brilliantly as a jumping-off point to inspire young minds to engage with the written word. Though child-sized, it’s packed with just enough to keep those with wandering attention spans rapt. Let the kids loose in Discover’s ace story garden when it’s time for their imaginations to get whirring in the fresh air.