Printable Spanish Story and Scene: El oso y sus amigos

I love telling stories with language learners, and I do lots of different story activities. One of my favorites is using simple paper figures to act out and retell stories. You can download a printable Spanish story and scene below.

The story, El oso y sus amigos, is about a bear who lives alone in the forest and how he makes friends. There are downloads of the printable Spanish story at two different levels. The printable Spanish story has black and white illustrations that children can color.

There is also a printable scene with the characters in the story. You can use the scene for lots of Spanish learning activities with kids. They can color and cut out the figures and then retell the story. They can also create their own stories with the figures. You can read more about acting out and retelling stories on A Place of Our Own.

If you try our winter reading challenge, this story and scene make a fun final activity and reward for your readers.

Download the printable Spanish story and scene using these links:

Simple version in the present tense- Oso y sus amigos

Past tense – Oso y sus amigos

Oso y sus amigos – Printable figures to retell the story and make up your own stories

Using the Printable Spanish Story and Scene

One of the best ways of telling a story is using figures to act it out.

• Tell the story Oso y sus amigos in your own words or make up a new story.
• Move the pictures and use your voice to help kids understand what they are hearing.
• If you are working with children who read in Spanish, read the story together. You can break the story into sections and move the figures to clarify vocabulary they are not familiar with. Ask comprehension questions like these as you tell the story or when children have finished reading. Use the tense that was used in the version of the story they read.

Comprehension questions in the present tense:

¿Dónde vive el oso?
¿Quién viene a jugar con el oso? ¿Qué hacen juntos?
¿Quién está mirando al oso y al niño?
¿Por qué no juega el conejo con el oso?
¿Qué hacen los niños para el oso?
¿Qué hace el conejo cuando escucha que al oso le gustaría tener un amigo que pudiera hablar y jugar?

Comprehension questions in the past tense:

¿Dónde vivía el oso?
¿Quién vino a jugar con el oso? ¿Qué hicieron juntos?
¿Quién estaba mirando al oso y al niño?
¿Por qué no jugaba el conejo con el oso?
¿Qué hicieron los niños para el oso?
¿Qué hizo el conejo cuando escuchó que al oso le gustaría tener un amigo que pudiera hablar y jugar?

Here is a video of my son-in-law Jorge telling the story in his own words. ¡Muchísimas gracias Jorge!

You can also use the scene without reading the story. Try activities like these:

• Name or describe a figure and have children place it in the scene.
• Ask where objects are and have children point to them.
• Ask ¿Qué es esto? Start by offering choices to make it easier. ¿Qué es esto?  ¿Es un oso o un conejo?
• Practice prepositions by describing where figures are located. El conejo está al lado del oso. La niña está detrás de un árbol. El niño está entre dos árboles. Then give directions and have children place the figures.
• Talk about the figures as you make a scene. Next, remove one item and ask what is missing. Add something and ask what has been added. Change the position of objects and ask what has changed.
• Play Veo, veo (I Spy). When a player guesses the object they add it to (or take it out of) the scene.
• Tell a new story moving the pieces to show the action.
• Create characters by inventing details about the figures. ¿Cómo se llama la niña? ¿Cuántos años tiene? ¿Qué le gusta hacer?