National Teddy Bear Day
Each year we send out thousands of teddy bears and fun teddy-themed activities to spread a little sunshine in children’s hospitals across the UK.
Celebrate your fluffy friends on 9th September with Rays of Sunshine.
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What is National Teddy Bear Day?
Teddy bears are often some of our earliest and most long-lasting companions, and the annual National Teddy Bear Day celebration is dedicated to showing off how much we love them.
Time spent in hospital can be tough for everyone, but it can feel especially scary and lonely for children. We believe in the power of play and positive distraction to help create precious memories and combat isolation. Even something as simple as a teddy bear can help.
National Teddy Bear Day 2025
This year, we sent 1,500 teddy bears from Teddy Tastic to 29 hospitals supporting seriously ill children across the UK
Thank you to volunteers from our partners, Clermont Hotel Group and F. W. Smith, Riches & Co. Chartered Accountants, who logged 110 corporate volunteering hours to help us pack these special deliveries!
How to get involved in National Teddy Bear Day
There are lots of ways to get involved in National Teddy Bear Day! We’ve got all the "bear necessities" you need with activity ideas and resources so that you can celebrate in your own way.
Find out more and download the resources below!
National Teddy Bear Activities & the “Bear Necessities” downloadable resources
Read a “Bear-y” Tale!
Kick off the festivities by hosting an interactive bear hunt – role-play the journey of characters in bear-themed books using sensory play. Our sensory scavenger hunt checklist has some great suggestions for things to find for this activity!
Make your bear
You can use arts and crafts to create your very own teddy – our origami templates will help children design their new friends. They can share their homemade bears in school or on a hospital ward!
“Where’s the bear?” game
This game involves hiding teddies, either real or paper drawings, for children to find. Adults can offer seekers a treasure map with hints or clues to guide their search. A real-life bear hunt!
Teddy-fy a room!
Create a teddy bear paradise by decorating spaces with our colourful bunting and teddy mask guides. Or if you’re feeling creative, you can set up a teddy bear crafting session where children can create their own pictures and banners to teddy-fy a room!
Host a teddy bear sports day!
This event has it all – active fun with your fluffy companions! To host this activity you could use a teddy as a relay baton while moving to a target and back or design an obstacle course for children to guide their teddies through.
Throw a teddy bear parade!
To end your day of fun give a teddy bear a moment to shine by throwing them a parade. Dress the teddies up, make floats out of toy cars and have a ball with the children and their cuddly toys!
