Photo by Michael Kelly Shannon Folts and her 3-year-old daughter, Emma, reposition a big stuffed bear on the front porch of their Norwood neighborhood home Thursday afternoon. Folts said she found the Bear Hunt Challenge on Facebook and wanted to join the trend. Asked the bear's name, Emma replied, "It's Cutie Pie."

In the hunting of these bears, no animals were harmed.

With many families boxed up in their homes as COVID-19 lurks in public areas, those seeking something new to do with their children are touring the community – at a safe distance from others – and looking for bears.

The Bear Hunt Challenge originated as an idea in social media now has followers by the thousands in all 50 states. A scavenger hunt of sorts, the bear hunt calls on households to put teddy bears and other plush animals on display for families to find as they walk and drive around their communities. Photos of their discoveries are posted on social media.

Andrea Davis on Glendale Road heard about it, like nearly everyone else, on social media.

“Somebody in the Facebook group invited me, so I accepted. I’d seen posts about it, and it seemed like a cute idea,” she said. Like many participants, the Davis family is on both the giving and taking side of the equation.

The family home sits well off the street, so Davis wanted something big that could be visible from a distance.

“We put out a stuffed dog, the biggest one we have,” she said. Bears, seemingly, are more of a guideline than a rule.

“We went out yesterday on a hunt, and saw about 10 or 15 in Devola,” she said Thursday afternoon. “There seem to be a lot of them in Devola.”

Davis said she now sees them everywhere.

“We walk from our house to the Glendale Trail and see a few, it really brings a smile to the kids’ faces,” she said. Her children are 13-year-old twin boys and an elementary-school age daughter.

“They’re very active in sports, and I feel bad for them,” she said. The boys are involved in track and soccer but this year missed the soccer season and running track part of the year, only to see the finals canceled, she said, and her daughter missed a state competition in cheer because of the COVID-19 shutdown.

They’ve all been searching for things to take their minds off the crisis.

“There’s only so many times you can go out on the trampoline,” she said.

The bear hunt is something engaging.

“They were excited to take pictures of those bears, there’s a sort of hide-and-seek to it, some people have them on their porches, others in their windows,” she said. “It’s been fun, and now we’re always looking for bears.”

Shannon Folts is doing her work for the Marietta-Washington County Convention & Visitors Bureau from her Norwood neighborhood home with her 3-year-old daughter, Emma. Their porch now sports a big purple and white bear, lounging on a swing, occasionally moving to a chair or the pedestal at the top of the steps.

“I heard about it on Facebook. We’ve got plenty of bears sitting around here,” she said.

She and Emma occasionally have gone out looking for bears, but at age 3 the hunt is pretty basic.

“A few people have posted pictures of our bear, and actually, it’s really exciting,” she said.

For more information on the Bear Hunt Challenge, search Facebook for “We’re going on a bear hunt.” Or, just take a walk or drive around your neighborhood.