The recent proliferation of bear sightings in North Carolina is no cause for alarm. These are Bucklebears and are highly domesticated, friendly little fellows that sit on laps and share safety stories with young children. The Bucklebear program is coordinated through the North Carolina Office of the State Fire Marshal and supported by the Department of Insurance. Bucklebear program training is provided to police, health and safety agencies in North Carolina. These safety advocates then take the program to kids around the state. The following is a detailed report on the program. North Carolina Enlivens BUCKLEBEAR Into Statewide Mobilizer Bucklebear, the safety puppet, has come to life across North Carolina, thanks to a statewide effort that has uniquely empowered local agencies to educate young children. For more than 20 years, Bucklebear has been the national "Smokey" of preschool curricula about vehicle passenger, pedestrian, and bike rider safety. Developed originally by Weiner-Seaman Productions of Glendale, CA, the Bucklebear program now consists of Lap Puppets with 7 recorded presentations, life-size costumes, robots, videos, comprehensive teacher kits with developmentally appropriate lesson plans, story and activity books, stickers and much more. All content is frequently updated to reflect best-practice recommendations. The variety of Bucklebear materials allows state and local programs to create strategies to best meet the needs of their local communities. According to Weiner-Seaman Productions, North Carolina now has the most extensive and comprehensive Bucklebear Program in the country. In 1998, NC's Office of State Fire Marshal implemented Bucklebear education as a statewide campaign, building on the state's history of statewide intervention planning and support. Soon, North Carolina realized that merely distributing materials to fire and rescue agencies did not guarantee that materials actually would be used or used correctly for maximum impact. So in 1999, the state designed a day-long Bucklebear "effectiveness training and mobilization" workshop, and recruited to it widely, especially through all CPS training courses. The curriculum that originally focused on 3- to 5-year-olds expanded in 2003 to include approaches for 6- to 8-year-olds' development. Three to 5 workshops are held each year. Program training and equipment come at no cost to participants. The day-long training includes a lecture with a hands-on workshop to help participants become comfortable with the puppets and materials and concludes with a live presentation to children. Each agency attending receives the complete Bucklebear Injury Prevention Program (lap puppet, training video, presentation modules for passenger, pedestrian and trike-bike-helmet safety, and Classroom Kits for use by teachers to reinforce Bucklebear's safety messages) worth a total of about $300. All items are reusable. Class participants are asked only to put the new equipment and training to use for two years and to report problems, successes and numbers to the state - using a quarterly report page made simple with check-offs and fill-in-blanks. Local innovations have included using Bucklebear with grandparents and other elderly audiences; building unity and momentum through Bucklebear appearances at checkup events across the state; adopting him as a friendly mascot for police bike patrols; making guest appearances at day camps; outfitting the bear with a personal flotation device to expand his influence into pool safety events; and pairing Bucklebear in friendship with Sparky the Fire Dog to boost the star power of safety talks that touch on multiple safety themes. Current Training Approach Participants generally come without specific experience in key areas, which was one of the problems with mere product distribution. The workshop orients and builds confidence in using the program, including: Motivation using injury statistics and discussion of behavior issues the program is designed to help solve. History and features of North Carolina's Bucklebear program. Learning and behavior traits of 3- to 5-year-olds and 6- to 8-year-olds. Review of the Bucklebear start-up kit, including the lap puppet, his mini bike helmet, safety messages, booklets, and reproducible games. Hands-on puppetry skills based on tips from professional puppeteers. Tips for starting local programs, including local contacts who are already using the program. Additional Bucklebear resources which are available for local acquisition, such as the life-size costume and robot, little stuffed Bucklebears, stickers, etc., and the national web site (www.bucklebear.com). Presentation practice and contest - participants are assigned one safety message and then create/deliver a 5-minute puppet presentation. The winning individual or group presents to a group of preschoolers while the rest of the class observes how the children's interaction illustrates the points raised in class. The Bucklebear program could be implemented elsewhere on a smaller scale, NC organizers say, by aiming just locally or by starting with only one or two of three national Bucklebear safety focus areas. The Bucklebear program addresses highway safety by motivating young children to WANT to be safe passengers, safe pedestrians and safe cyclists and it reaches out to the families to encourage their support of these safe behaviors. While the Bucklebear program does not yet specifically address school bus passenger safety issues, that is under consideration. North Carolina recently added 100 Riding with the Big Green Snake Booster Seat Classroom Kits to expand their efforts to reach children in the 4-8 year range who are moving into booster seats. These programs are designed as seamless follow-ons to the Bucklebear Kit lessons. Management and Contacts The North Carolina program was launched within the Department of Insurance's Office of State Fire Marshal. That entity plans and conducts highway safety programs for the Governor's Office of Highway Safety and also is lead agency for North Carolina SAFE KIDS. The Bucklebear program is available to any organization interested in conducting injury prevention education in the state - some have CPS-certified staff, others do not. Besides traditional safety education agencies, the North Carolina campaign has attracted participants from parks and recreation agencies and school educators already using the state's RiskWatch safety curriculum. Contact statewide coordinator Angie Gregg, 919-218-6103 or agregg@ncdoi.net. Workshop lesson plan copies may be requested by e-mail or hard copy. A Power Point presentation for the program is expected to be developed by fall. Additional contacts are Allison Cummings, Office of State Fire Marshal, at 1-919-661-5880 ext 314, and Kelly Ransdell at the same number. Allison is office staff and handles most communications; Kelly conducts most of the trainings.

Please note that this entire Website (bucklebear.com), and all text and images therein, are copyright ©1982-2006 by Weiner-Seaman Productions. All rights reserved. For permission to use BUCKLEBEAR® materials for publicity or promotional purposes, please email us at bbmail@bucklebear.com.