Looking for something to do in Greenville? How about an Upstate, SC bear hunt? Since almost everything is closed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, it makes it tough for parents to not only keep their kids entertained but save their own sanity. We love driving tours over here at Kidding Around (**ahem** Christmas lights…) so we asked our readers if they knew of neighborhoods participating in the viral Bear Hunt window challenge, where people put teddy bears in their windows for kids to find and point out.
And they answered. Because our readers are awesome. In fact, our readers answered in such droves that we’ve found out that Google Maps only allows 8 driving routes with a total of ten stops on each! So far, we’ve been able to add all the places mentioned, but some aren’t on routes yet (those are designated in purple).
Looking for more things to do? We have a bunch of ideas assembled for you in this list of Things to Do in Greenville During Social Distancing.
The bear hunt challenge is based on the book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. Your kids probably know the accompanying song (here it is on YouTube) which would be fun to play in the car if it doesn’t drive you crazy. Going on a bear hunt is also a fun game when you’ve used up all your indoor ideas or just need to get out of the house without being around other people.
Also, note that some families have put other stuffed animals in their windows for lack of bears (could be my kids) or just a greater sense of creativity so you can count those homes in your bear hunt, too!
We’ve put together 8 driving tours, so far, of routes you can take for bear hunts that our readers have noticed bears on. You should be able to load these to your phone’s GPS. These are not exact addresses but neighborhoods/streets where you can search around for bears in windows and we’ll add in more places as we find them (some aren’t on the driving routes currently but are listed on the map). Please be considerate of neighborhood and their residents and drive carefully.
Greenville Area Neighborhoods to Find Bears
These are the neighborhoods and general areas listed in our driving tours but if we are missing places with bears – or got the neighborhoods/street wrong, please comment on this post.
North Greenville Route
Dellwood
West Mountainview Ave
Buist Avenue
Townes Street
Lullwater Road
Furman Route
Watson Crossing
Northcliff
Churchill Falls
Partridge Ridge
Northwood Hill
Greer Route
Waterford Park
Devenger Place
Drexel Terrace
Chatman Street
Silverleaf
Sugar Creek
Canebrake
Ascot
St. James Place
Chartwell Estates
Hammett Crossing
Burgiss Hills
North Greer Route
Beechwood
Cypress Landing
Brushy Meadows
Hammett Crossing
Winding Way
Augusta Road Route
Cothran Street
Aberdeen Drive
Keowee Avenue
Grove Valley Way
Sunset Drive
Seminole Drive
Meyers Drive
Cammer Avenue
High Hill Street
Woodvale Avenue
Oak Crest Court
Five Forks Route
Cobblestone
Squires Creek
Magnolia Place
Gilder Creek
Windsor Forest
River Walk
Summerwalk
Dunwoody Oaks
Shellbrook Plantation
Roper Mountain Route
Spaulding Farm
Roper Mountain Estates
Belhaven Village
Bent Creek Plantation
Asheton Lakes
Simpsonville Route
Remington Ranch
River Shoals
Lost River
Neely Farms
Weatherstone
Southbrook
Veryfine Drive
Simpsonville Police Dept.
Sunshine Drive
Poinsettia
Easley-Powdersville Route
(denoted in orange – not a driving route because we ran out of space!)
Sedgewood
Bellestone
Caledonia
Blythwood Drive in Piedmont
Not on a Route Yet (denoted in purple on the map)
Edgewood Drive (this is near Augusta Rd)
Cypress Landing
The Heights
322 Sycamore Drive
Newman Street
113 Montclair Rd
125 Chipley Lane
Country Club Drive
Arlene Drive
Chestnut Hills
Westcliffe Way
West Belvue Road
Pine Brook Forest
East Avondale
Fox Creek Court in Travelers Rest
Main Street in Travelers Rest
O’Neal Village
Willow Creek
Poplar Street
Pebble Creek
A reader suggested that for every bear you find, you can donate a quarter or some amount of money to a food bank (send it online) to help your kids learn about helping others while having fun.
We’re Going on A Bear Hunt Video
Here’s the animated video of the book:
Have you seen any bears on a bear hunt around the Upstate? Tell us where in the comments!
We have one in our window! The corner of Arbutus Trail and Lockwood Ave. we are in Overbrook 😊
Hey! Southbrook in Fountain Inn is jumping in board today! 😁
Gilder Creek Farms in Simpsonville, SC
Weatherstone Subdivision in Simpsonville.
McIver Street has a bear! (near the Cleveland end)
The Heights in Mauldin. Shale Court is one of the roads
We are also participating in this activity. We don’t have a bear in the house so we have an iconic Disney friend in our window. We are in bellestone In easley sc
Veryfine Drive in Fountain Inn!!
We have a bear! 105 Chatman Street, Greer, near Brushy Creek and across from Eastside Y
We saw it on our walk.
We have a big bear on our porch. 304 Mullinax Dr Greenville SC 29607
Please Add Adams Run, in Simpsonville Five Forks area. We Have Tons of bears!
Going on a Bear Hunt? Adams Run is covered in bears!
We have sent a note around to the neighborhood and look forward to seeing folks in Partridge Ridge!
Please add to the list: 505 Mossy Ledge Lane in Asheton Lakes subdivision in the Five Forks area! Working on getting neighbors who “bear” to participate too!
Westwood!
You can add Caledonia to a Powdersville route with Sedgewood, Rose Hill, and possibly the Piedmont one. I haven’t looked up the address of the others.
How do other neighborhoods get in?
You just start putting bears in your windows.
Westcliffe Way Greenville 29611 in Westcliffe in Berea
How do we get on the list and do you get people involved Westwood, simpsonville, Cheyenne dr
You can tell us which neighborhood you’re located in and we can put it on our map.
Simpsonville Pd is now a site as well as 224 Stenhouse Road simpsonville S.C.
We saw!