Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh eats so much honey that he gets stuck in Rabbit’s door! Christopher Robin and friends help Winnie get unstuck, and Winnie learns how important friends are!

About this Episode

Winnie the Pooh eats so much honey that he gets stuck in Rabbit’s door! Christopher Robin and friends help Winnie get unstuck, and Winnie learns how important friends are!

Snoriezzz, a children’s mindful bedtime podcast and part of the GoKidGo universe of shows for kids, is co-created and co-hosted by Academy Award Winning actor Marcia Gay Harden (she/her), and actor and comedian Natalie Peyton (she/her). Building love of self and love of sleep at the same time, the Snory godmothers use affirmations, calming routines, and a beautiful fairy tale to help you make bedtime the peaceful, bonding moment you need!

Snoriezzz Segments:

00:45 MINDFUL TALK

03:24 GROUNDING WITH YOUR SURROUNDINGS

05:20 SNORY WINNIE THE POOH

19:25 CALM YOUR BODY MEDITATION

You can always revisit the affirmations, Snory, or meditations as your little one needs! We’ve provided the timing for each segment above.

Host Snory godmother: Marcia Gay Harden (she/her)

Host Snory godmother: Natalie Peyton (she/her)

Segment music composition: Nana Simopoulos (she/her)

Story music composition and foley: Sterling Steffen (he/him)

Editing: Sterling Steffen

Cover art: Eulie Scheel (they/them)

Production Manager: Kyle Dempsey (he/him)

Branding/marketing: Julitta Scheel (she/her)

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Get ready for Connect & Learn! Where you and your adult dive deeper into the Snoriezzz episodes you’ve heard at bedtime or naptime!

Deep Dive
Mindful Affirmations
Play + Learn
Science Tips

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF WINNIE THE POOH! BUT…WHERE IS THE WORLD OF WINNIE THE POOH, ANYWAY?

HELLO dear adventurers! Today we are going to take you into the World of Winnie the Pooh! We will explore the magical land where he and his friends lived – The 100 Acre Wood! We’ll learn all about these friends – and the other animals that live there as well. Let’s also take a peek at the London zoo where he came from, and learn a bit about the real Christopher Robin who actually owned a teddy bear named Winnie! Have you ever wondered where honey came from, and are you curious as to how bees make this delicious sticky sweetener? Do you love parks and forest walks? Then let’s dive in!

Landscape

ASHDOWN FOREST: First, let’s travel back to the bucolic English countryside, (remember we learned all about England in The Three Pigs Deep Dive and the Goldilocks and The Three Bears Deep Dive) but this time we are going to head south, to the real place that the 100 Acre Wood is based on: Ashdown Forest!

Ashdown forest is about 40 miles south of London, in Sussex, England.

It has beautiful pine trees, heather and gorse, and lovely silver birch trees. The whole forest is over 6000 Acres, but there is a real area a little bit bigger than the 100 Acre Woods where you can walk around and see the landmarks from the stories of Winnie the Pooh! Can you see on the map where Winnie lives? Do you see Christopher Robin near the tree? How about Eeyore the donkey? Making maps is fun! Can you draw a map of your neighborhood?

But first…WHO WAS WINNIE THE POOH?

Well, Winnie the Pooh is an adorable little bear who lives in the 100 Acre Wood, and he has a whole circle of friends that he loves and plays with. But – and here is what is so cool, he was actually based on a REAL bear!

Okay, okay, let’s start at the beginning. Winnie the Pooh was written by Alan Alexander Milne (or A.A. Milne for short). Milne grew up in London, and he had a little boy named Christopher Robin! Wait…? He was named Christopher Robin? But that’s the same name as the little boy in the story!

Exactly. A.A. Milne decided to write the Winnie the Pooh stories as he watched his son, Christopher Robin, spend hours and hours exploring the woods near their house. Those woods were the Ashdown Forest woods, and that’s what the 100 Acre Wood is based on!

How did A.A. Milne come up with the character and stories of Winnie the Pooh? Winnie was inspired by a little teddy bear that his son had! When Christopher Robin was one year old, his father bought him a stuffed bear toy from the famous fancy department store “Harrods” in London, England. At first, Christopher named his stuffed friend “Edward Bear,” but later Christopher and his dad visited the London Zoo and met a real bear named Winnipeg – or Winnie for short! Christopher loved him! Winnie from the London Zoo was said to be one of the kindest real life bears the zoo had ever seen.

They even let children play in the bear-pen with the bear! Can you imagine playing with a bear at his home in the Zoo?! Christopher loved him so much that he renamed his bear Winnie, after the bear in the zoo.

A.A. Milne really enjoyed watching his son, Christopher Robin, have so much fun using his imagination to play with his stuffed animals. Christopher especially loved his stuffed bear, Winnie! Milne thought it was so wonderful to watch Christopher playing for hours with all his stuffed friends making up stories and adventures, that he decided to write stories about their adventures so other kids could enjoy the fun too! Do you like playing with your toys and imagining the adventures they take together?!

The Story of the Real Life Bear – Winnipeg or Winnie for Short

A long time ago, in the early 1910s, a tiny black bear cub named Winnie was born in Ontario, Canada. She was all alone with no family to take care of her. Luckily, a kind hunter rescued her and sold her to a Canadian soldier named Lieutenant Harry Colebourn. Harry wasn’t just a soldier—he was a veterinarian who took care of animals, so he was the perfect person to look after Winnie! He bought her for $20 and gave her the name “Winnipeg” after his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada but for short, her nickname became Winnie!

Harry and Winnie became best friends during a very tough time—a war was happening. Harry had to travel from Canada to England as part of the Canadian Army, and there was no way he was leaving Winnie behind. So… Winnie went with him on the big journey! Can you imagine taking a baby bear cub on a trip with you overseas?! I bet you would have to buy the bear its own airplane ticket! Back then, Harry and Winnie traveled by ship to England. I wonder how Winnie liked the sea?

Winnie became the mascot of Harry’s army regiment, and everyone loved her because she was so friendly and playful. But when Harry had to go to France to fight in the war, he knew Winnie needed a safe place to stay. In 1914, he donated her to the London Zoo, where she could be well cared for.

At the zoo, Winnie became a superstar! She was so gentle that kids could ride on her back and play with her—something you don’t see with most bears! That’s where Christopher Robin and his dad A.A. Milne first met Winnie – at the zoo. Winnie lived happily at the London Zoo until she passed away in 1934, and she became one of the zoo’s most beloved animals ever.

Today, Winnie’s story is remembered all around the world, but especially in Canada and the UK. There’s a statue of Winnie and Harry at the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, and her tale lives on in books like “Finding Winnie” written by Harry’s great-granddaughter Lindsay Mattick! Winnie will always be remembered as the real bear who inspired the adventures of Winnie the Pooh!

The Story behind the name “Pooh”

Wonder how Winnie got the second part of his name “Pooh”? It actually came from another real animal, a swan! In the book When We Were Very Young, A.A. Milne wrote a poem based on a true story, about his son Christopher Robin feeding a swan every morning. In the poem he explains that Christopher Robin decided to call the swan “Pooh.” Milne explained that it was a great name because if the swan didn’t come when you called (which swans often don’t), you could just pretend you were saying “Pooh!” as if you didn’t mind at all. Like “Oh…Pooh!”

Hey! The way Christopher Robin said “Pooh” to the swan who didn’t do what he wanted, reminds us of one way people get nicknames, from real life experiences!

We think it went something like this: Christopher Robin would say to the Swan, “Come eat this food, Swan.” Then when the swan didn’t come Christopher would say something like, “Oh Pooh, I didn’t want you to come any way!” Even if he really did. So from then on, Christopher called the swan Pooh and the nickname stuck! Do you have a nickname? Do you know how you got that nickname?

Later, Milne combined the name “Winnie,” from the real bear, with the name “Pooh” from the real swan and that’s how Winnie the Pooh got his full name.

Characters of the Winnie the Pooh Stories:

The first collection of stories by A.A. Milne included Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). A.A. Milne wrote the stories, but we have Ernest H. Shepard to thank for bringing them to life as illustrations in the book. Later on, Disney turned Winnie the Pooh into an animated series and colored the characters to give them a more modern look! In fact, Disney added the character of gopher to the story – that wasn’t in the original books.

Here’s another fun fact! The original drawing of Winnie-the-Pooh wasn’t based on Christopher Robin’s own stuffed bear, even though the character was inspired by him! Instead, the way Pooh Bear looked was based on Ernest H. Shepard’s son’s stuffed animal, called “Growler.” But when it came to the other characters in The 100 Acre Wood, A.A. Milne made sure they looked just like his son, Christopher Robin’s real stuffed animals. Keep reading to find out where those real stuffed toys are now and which characters they inspired!

Now we’re going to tell you all about the characters from the Winnie-The-Pooh stories! First we have the most important character of all:

Winnie-the-Pooh (“Pooh Bear”)

Pooh Bear is a cuddly, friendly bear who loves honey more than anything else! He spells honey like “hunny.” Silly Pooh Bear. He’s not the smartest bear in the world, but he always tries his best to help his friends and he’s so very polite. When things don’t go as planned in his life, Pooh just says, “Oh, bother!” and keeps going.

Piglet

Piglet is a tiny pink pig who can be a little scared of big things. But when his friends need him, he’s the bravest of them all! Piglet has a bit of a stutter and you can often hear him say, “Oh d-d-dear!” when he’s feeling a little nervous, but Piglet always finds a way to help.

Eeyore

Oh Eeyore! He’s a sleepy, old, gray donkey who sometimes feels a little gloomy and he’s not afraid to show it. He says things like, “Thanks for noticing me,” and it often seems like he feels sorry for himself, but deep down, he loves his friends and is happy when they visit him—especially if they help him find his missing tail, which goes missing quite a lot…but that’s because it’s attached to his body with a nail. Whhhaaaatt?! That would be like if your finger were taped onto your hand! That’s silly, but that’s what A.A. Milne’s imagination came up with! Another fun fact about Eeyore is that his name sounds just like the noise a donkey makes! When a donkey “talks,” it brays by making a funny sound like “hee-haw.” That’s how Eeyore got his name—it’s a silly way to match his donkey voice! Try it! Remember, A.A. Milne was English so he didn’t pronounce his “r” like we do. So when he said Eeyore’s name in his head it sounded like a donkey! “Eeeeee-yooohhhhh” like “Hee-Haw.” Want to learn a big hard word?! Eeyore’s name is what’s called “onomatopoeia” which is a fancy word to describe other words that sound like the noise they describe! Eeeeyyoorreee sounds like the noise it makes, heee-hawww- just like the word meow sounds like the sound a cat makes, both are examples of onomatopoeia! Can you think of another example?

Rabbit

Rabbit is the friend of the group that has what some people call a “Type-A” personality. Type A is a way to describe people who like things to be just right. People who are “Type A” often: work really hard to do their best, want to finish things quickly and perfectly, and feel excited or sometimes worried about making sure everything goes well. Imagine someone who likes to keep their toys super organized or always wants to win at a game—that’s a bit like being Type A! It’s not a bad thing; it just means they care a lot about what they’re doing. But it’s also important for them to take breaks and have fun, too! The way Rabbit takes breaks and has fun is by being a gardener and planner for parties and get-togethers. Rabbit still likes everything to be neat and organized, but even if something doesn’t go according to plan, he always sticks by his friends.

Kanga & Roo

Tigger is the bounciest tiger you’ll ever meet! He’s full of energy and loves to shout: “That’s what Tiggers do best!” Sometimes his bouncing causes trouble, but he always brings smiles to his friends.

Tigger

Kanga is a kangaroo and she is the sweetest mom you’ll ever meet. She looks after everyone, especially her little Roo. Kanga always knows how to make things better with her kindness. Roo is Kanga’s playful and curious son. He loves bouncing around with Tigger and exploring the Hundred Acre Wood. Every day is an adventure for Roo!

Owl

Owl is the storyteller of the group! He loves sharing what he knows (even if he sometimes gets it a little wrong). His big words and wise advice make him a favorite among his friends. We bet Owl would use words like onomatopoeia. What does an owl say? “Hoooo” That’s another example of that crazy big word onomatopoeia!

Christopher Robin

Christopher Robin, as you know, is based off of the author’s son, Christopher Robin Milne and just like the real boy, the story character is a boy with a big imagination. He loves spending time with his animal friends and is always ready to help them with their problems or go on a fun adventure.

Art

Where are the REAL Stuffed Animals that inspired the stories of Winnie the Pooh and friends?

Christopher Robin’s beloved stuffies including Winnie the Pooh and most of his friends are now in New York City on display at the New York Public Library! Look below!

Can you see the similarities and differences between the real stuffed animals and the Disney animation of Winnie the Pooh?!

Food

We can’t forget to tell you all about the number one food group from Winnie the Pooh…and it also happens to be Pooh Bear’s favorite food of all time. Honey!!! Or as he spells it, (incorrectly) “hunny.” NO ONE loves honey more than Winnie The Pooh.

Pooh bear loves honey. Do you love honey, too? It’s so sweet and tasty and sticky – but what actually is honey?

You may know that honey is made by honeybees! So, how do they make it? Honeybees make honey through a fascinating process that starts when they search for blooming flowers, typically in the springtime. Using their long tongues like straws, they suck nectar—a sugary juice—from the flowers and store it in a special second stomach called the “honey stomach.” Woah! Bees have two stomachs?! Yes! Once their honey stomachs are full, the bees return to their hive and pass the nectar to other bees, who chew it for about 30 minutes. This nectar-chewing process continues from bee to bee until it becomes honey. It’s like a honey bee assembly line! Very cool! The honey is then stored in waxy honeycomb cells, where the bees flap their wings to thicken it into a syrup. Once it’s ready, they seal the cells with a wax lid to keep it fresh.

Then, beekeepers can carefully collect some honey without harming the bees, who not only make honey but also help pollinate flowers. While honeybees are amazing, it’s important to watch them from a safe distance and with a grown-up, as they can sting if they feel threatened. 🐝🍯

Real Bears and Honey

We know Winnie the Pooh is wild about honey. But what about real bears?! Bears, both real and fictional, love honey, but it’s not just the sweetness they’re after. In the wild, bears raid beehives for the honey as well as the hive itself, which is full of nutritious things like bee larvae and pupae. (Pupae is the in- between- time when the bee is like a teenager, and is in a cocoon.) Honey gives bears energy with its sugar, but they also need the proteins and fats from the hive to stay strong, especially after hibernation. Remember learning about hibernation in The Selfish Giant Deep Dive about Seasons?!

Bears eat a variety of foods besides honey, like fruits, nuts, fish, and even insects. Not all bears get to enjoy honey, though—polar bears, for example, live in the Arctic where there are no bees or hives.

While honeybees sting to protect their hives, bears’ thick fur helps shield them, though their noses and faces can still get stung. Despite this, they’ll brave the pain for the sweet treat. Interestingly, when bears eat fruits and later spread the seeds through their scat (that’s a scientific way to say Bear Poop!) , they help plants grow, creating more flowers for bees to pollinate. Bears and bees play important roles in nature’s balance!

Castles

Have you ever heard the saying: “A man’s home is his castle?” Well that’s true for Winnie the Pooh! He has one of the coolest coziest treehouses you have ever seen! His home is INSIDE the trunk of a great big tree in The 100 Acre Woods or as Milne knew it, Ashdown Forest. Above we showed you the actual tree Winnie the Pooh’s house is inspired by. And below you can see an illustration of his house and a real live “Bear BnB” home you can rent to experience what it is like to live inside a tree like Winnie the Pooh! Oh my gosh! We would like to go there!

Of course before signing off, we’d love to teach you about a real/traditional castle near the Ashdown Forest! It’s called the Herstmonceux Castle and it is grand!

Herstmonceux Castle, near Ashdown Forest in England (remember the forest that The 100 acre woods is based on) is not just magical-looking—it’s also very old! It’s one of the oldest brick buildings still standing in England today. Long ago, it was a grand home for a wealthy family, and over the years, it has been used as a private residence, an observatory, and now a place for visitors to explore and learn about history. Herstmonceux Castle is surrounded by lovely gardens, a moat, and woodlands, where you can explore and imagine knights, princesses, and exciting medieval adventures!

THANKS FOR JOINING US!! VISIT OUR PLAY & LEARNS FOR MORE ACTIVITIES INSPIRED BY WINNIE THE POOH! Nature walks, honey snacks and more!

The Magic Bed: Mindful Affirmations

Embrace the Power of Affirmations!

Imagine a world where your child starts and ends each day with positivity and confidence! By weaving affirmations into their daily routines, children can boost their self-esteem, build resilience, and cultivate a growth mindset. These skills empower them to face life’s challenges with courage and optimism.

Bedtime Bliss and Breakfast Boost:

Why not make affirmations a delightful part of your family’s routine? Enjoy these uplifting phrases together before bed, creating a peaceful atmosphere for sweet dreams. Then, share them again at breakfast to set a positive tone for the day ahead.

You can inspire our little ones to shine bright and embrace every opportunity that comes their way! 🌟

Play & Learn

Download Play & Learn PDFs
	Five Senses Nature Walk!	Download Now
	Honey Pot Coloring Page	Download Now
	Make Your Own Map!	Download Now
	Pooh Bear Coloring Page	Download Now
	Pooh Stretches	Download Now
	Rabbit’s Kitchen	Download Now
	Winnie the Pooh Word Search	Download Now

Snoriezzz Science Tip

Don’t Delay Sleep

Getting a good night’s sleep is one of the best things you can do for yourself. It’s important for your health, your mind and your happiness!

You might think that everyone looks forward to a night of good sleep, right? But it turns out, many people don’t value sleep as much as science tells you we should! In fact, humans are the only mammals known to delay sleep by choice.

Why would we delay sleep or choose to not sleep at nightfall? Sometimes it’s intentional, sometimes it’s not. There could be a bunch of different reasons.

Some people work overnight jobs so they can pay for their homes or apartments and provide for their families. Some people work one job during the day and another job at night. It can be tough for people who work overnight shifts to fall right asleep after they get off work. They may even develop “shift work sleep disorder”.

Many teenagers have different sleep cycles than adults, typically falling asleep around 1 or 2 AM and waking up around 10 AM. This natural tendency to sleep later sometimes leads to grogginess in class and late sleeping on weekends, which is often misunderstood as laziness. Quite the opposite! Their bodies are telling them to sleep in! Some scientists think school should start later in the morning because of this!

However, some people purposely delay sleep to watch TV, or hang with friends or do activities late at night. Putting off bedtime can lead to fatigue and poor sleep quality. Set yourself up for success and get some sleep with a healthy bedtime routine!

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Winnie the Pooh

About this Episode

Share with a Friend

Get ready for Connect & Learn! Where you and your adult dive deeper into the Snoriezzz episodes you’ve heard at bedtime or naptime!

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF WINNIE THE POOH! BUT…WHERE IS THE WORLD OF WINNIE THE POOH, ANYWAY?

Landscape

But first…WHO WAS WINNIE THE POOH?

The Story of the Real Life Bear – Winnipeg or Winnie for Short

The Story behind the name “Pooh”

Characters of the Winnie the Pooh Stories:

Winnie-the-Pooh (“Pooh Bear”)

Piglet

Eeyore

Rabbit

Kanga & Roo

Tigger

Owl

Christopher Robin

Art

Food

Real Bears and Honey

Castles

THANKS FOR JOINING US!! VISIT OUR PLAY & LEARNS FOR MORE ACTIVITIES INSPIRED BY WINNIE THE POOH! Nature walks, honey snacks and more!

The Magic Bed: Mindful Affirmations

Play & Learn

Snoriezzz Science Tip

Don’t Delay Sleep

Discover More Podcasts

Little Bo Peep

The Selfish Giant

Three Little Pigs

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