The Creative Journey Behind the Trail

The We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Art Trail in Dartford, delivered by ellenor, is inspired by the BAFTA-nominated animated adaptation created by Lupus Films. Its distinctive animated style informs the look and design of the sculptures that will appear across Dartford in summer 2026.

The animated film grew from the much-loved picture book written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, which itself can be traced back to a traditional spoken rhyme passed from generation to generation. This creative journey – from voice, to page, to screen, and now to public art – carries shared themes of adventure, imagination, and collective experience.

The animation’s gentle storytelling style and visual identity shape the feel of the trail, inviting families to explore, pause, and connect across the town. By taking part, you will also be helping raise awareness and vital funds for ellenor, supporting children and adults living with life-limiting illness across Dartford, Gravesham, and Bexley.

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt — based on the book by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury and adapted for television by Lupus Films.

Inspired by the Lupus Films animated adaptation, the trail brings people together through adventure and imagination, while raising funds for local hospice care. #DartfordBearHunt 💛🐾

About the Creators

The We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Art Trail in Dartford takes its creative inspiration from the animated adaptation by Lupus Films. The animation grew from the much-loved picture book by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury.

Michael Rosen has received some of the highest honours in children’s literature. He served as UK Children’s Laureate (2007–2009) and has won numerous awards, including the CLiPPA Poetry Award and the J.M. Barrie Award for his outstanding contribution to storytelling.

Helen Oxenbury’s work has been celebrated around the world. She has twice won the Kate Greenaway Medal, received three Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes, and was honoured with the BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award (2018).

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt — based on the book by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury and adapted for television by Lupus Films.

From Oral Tradition to Picture Book

Long before We’re Going on a Bear Hunt reached bookshelves or screens, the story lived in the oral tradition — a rhyme passed from child to child, shaped by rhythm, repetition and imagination. As Michael Rosen explains, it sits within a long line of folklore in which stories are adapted, retold and renewed across generations.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Rosen encountered several versions of the rhyme and began performing his own lively interpretation, adding playful sound words such as “squelch squerch” and “stumble trip.” He later developed this into the picture book text illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.

Those lively sound effects, shared first in performance and then in print, formed part of the creative pathway that eventually led to the BAFTA-nominated animated adaptation by Lupus Films, which inspires the visual style of Dartford’s art trail.

That same spirit of curiosity and shared storytelling sits at the heart of Dartford’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Art Trail — inspired by the Lupus Films animated adaptation and brought to the town by ellenor.

Illustration and Visual Interpretation

When illustrator Helen Oxenbury first saw Michael Rosen’s text, it featured a lively royal procession. Oxenbury imagined it differently, choosing to illustrate the story as a family adventure inspired by children’s everyday movement and emotion.

Her family-centred interpretation contributed to the creative journey that later led to the BAFTA-nominated animated adaptation by Lupus Films, which informs the design direction for Dartford’s art trail.

From Picture Book to Animated Adaptation

In The Guardian’s ‘How We Made’ feature (2012), Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury describe how the picture-book version of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt developed through performance-based storytelling and family-inspired illustration. This creative step formed part of the pathway that later resulted in the BAFTA-nominated animated adaptation by Lupus Films, whose visual language now inspires Dartford’s trail.

The Global Reach of the Story

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt has become a widely recognised family story shared around the world through different versions and adaptations. Since its publication by Walker Books in 1989, it has sold millions of copies worldwide, been translated into more than 20 languages, and remained continuously in print.

The story has continued to reach new audiences through a range of formats including theatre, digital content, and the BAFTA-nominated animated adaptation created by Lupus Films.

Information drawn from publicly available sources, including Wikipedia.