Children across the state of Indiana are finishing out their schools year from home due to the coronavirus pandemic. With bedrooms now doubling as classrooms, parents are looking for any way to get out of the house.

That’s why a Tennessee woman started the movement now known as “Bear Hunts.”

Based on the 1989 children’s book, “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt,” by Michael Rosen, communities across the country are placing teddy bears in their windows for children to find when they venture out for walks with family. 

And the movement has made its way to Indianapolis. Teddy bears sit perched on the windowsills behind panes of glass throughout the historic Forest Hills neighborhood near Broad Ripple. Nearly every home in each block has a plush toy on display in a windowsill.

Katie Terrazas, a Forest Hills resident and mother of two girls, said she found out about the bear hunt through her neighbor. She said they then placed teddy bears in their window as well. 

“Of course after we did that we needed to go find them,” Katie said.

She said the bear hunt has been a great distraction for her young girls because it’s a way to get them out of the house to do something different. 

“It’s extremely difficult,” Katie said. “I’m not a teacher and I’m also working full-time, or at least trying to. But of course you have to put more energy into the kids when they’re at home.”

It’s been more than a month since Indiana was placed under a stay-at-home order on March 23, so Katie loves any activity that gets the kids out. 

“Anything that can get us out of the house and something new to do is amazing,” Katie said.

And the parents aren’t the only ones who think finding teddy bears is a good idea. Katie’s kindergartener daughter, Mia Terrazas, said it reminds her of the games she plays with her younger sister. 

“It’s like a hunt,” Mia said. “It’s like when me and my sister play, we hide the toys in this yard and we have to go and find them.”

Katie said she also enjoys the bear hunts because it’s nice to see people when you’re out of the house, even if it’s at a distance. 

Violet Snyder, a 1st grader living in Forest Hills, enjoys going on bear hunts with her family, too. She said they’re very fun and it’s a good way to get exercise in.

But said her favorite part is seeing all of the people when she is out walking around. She loves seeing her friends from school around the neighborhood.

“I see them playing at houses and I want to go up to them and hug them and you know we have to be 6 feet away,” Violet said. 

Despite the stay-at-home order, activities such as the bear hunt help unite communities during the uncertainty of the pandemic.

The bear hunt has helped preserve the childhood’s of kids and reignite the childhood’s of parents through something everyone has owned at one point in their life — a teddy bear. 

“Everybody has them,” Katie said. “And a lot of us when we were kids and they as kids love their bears.”