Inspire

The smallest commercially available teddy bear is only 9mm. A very small bear is called a micro bear and there are many people who make and sell them.

This is the worlds largest teddy bear. It measures 19.41 metres in length and was made by Municipio de Xonacatlán in Mexico. It is more than 215 times the size of the smallest bear and approximately the height of a 4 storey building!

The German company Steiff made 500 ‘mourning bears’ in honor of the victims of the Titanic.

Winnie the Pooh is inspired by a real bear cub bought by a Canadian soldier during World War I. The bear, named Winnipeg, travelled to London by train.

The most travelled toy mascot bear is called Raymondo and travelled 395,605 miles between 2009 and 2010.

A person who collects teddy bears is called an Artophile. This conmes from two Greek words – artos meaning bear and philos meaning loving.

In 2019, Istvánné Arnóczki, won the world record of the largest collection of teddy bears. The collection consists of a whopping 20,367 bears!!!

The term teddy bear was created in 1902 when President Theodore Roosevelt (often referred to as Teddy) was hunting. Some of his attendants capture a black bear and tied it to a tree for the President to shoot. The President refused and not long after was depicted in Clifford Berryman’s cartoon.

Morris Mitchem, who founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., soon after created Teddy’s Bear – a soft toy cub which was immediately popular.