Free Children’s Story With Poster Of Bear Cub Serving Pancakes

The Story Of Pancake Making Bear Cub

How about a free children’s story and a related poster you can purchase if you like the story?
I thought I would make a poster that was somewhat whimsical. Usually my wall art contains a thought about something to consider and think about. Not only did I want the poster to be fun, but I thought it could be hung in the kitchen or a child’s room instead of the usual places.

The thought was to have a bear cub in a kitchen getting ready to serve breakfast to his friends. The bear cub is called Hotcakes because he is good at making pancakes. Here’s the story of Hotcakes and it’s Ok to share with kids:

The Short Story

Deep within the heart of the whimsical forest, where sunlight filtered through emerald leaves and gentle streams whispered secrets, there lived a bear cub named Hotcakes. Unlike the other cubs who spent their days playing tag and climbing trees, Hotcakes had a unique passion – he had an extraordinary love for making breakfast.

Each morning, as the sun’s first rays would gently wake Hotcakes, he would tiptoe into his cozy kitchen, adorned in an apron and a chef’s hat, commonly called a toque. His mornings were filled with the delightful sounds of utensils clinking and the sweet scent of pancake batter that seemed to dance in the air.

Hotcakes had a secret recipe for the fluffiest pancakes in the entire forest. With his chef’s hat slightly askew, Hotcakes began his breakfast symphony. He would carefully mix the flour, crack the eggs, and pour in just the right amount of honey for sweetness. He flipped pancakes with flair, twirled spatulas like wands, and turned breakfast into a magical performance. As the batter sizzled on the hot griddle, the delicious aroma of freshly cooked pancakes filled the air. The little bear cub carefully stacked a tower of pancakes, creating a masterpiece of breakfast delight.

But Hotcakes wasn’t content with merely enjoying his morning creations alone. No, he had a generous spirit and wanted to share his love for breakfast with everyone in the forest. So, he decided to turn his kitchen into a breakfast celebration, open to all his friends.

One sunny morning, as the aroma of pancakes wafted through the trees, the curious animals of the forest gathered outside Hotcakes’ home. There were squirrels, rabbits, birds, and even wise old owls gathered around, their eyes gleaming with anticipation. With a wide grin, Hotcakes swung the door open and welcomed his friends inside.

The forest creatures couldn’t believe their luck—they were about to taste the most enchanted pancakes ever created. The animals gathered around as Hotcakes, the bear cub chef, offered each of them a steaming, golden pancake from his magical stack. The forest was filled with laughter, joy, and the delicious sounds of munching as his friends enjoyed the best breakfast they had ever tasted. The scent of pancakes lingered in the air, a reminder of the warmth that comes from sharing a delicious meal with friends.

From that day forward, Hotcakes became the forest’s favorite chef. Every morning, the animals eagerly awaited the delightful aroma of pancakes wafting from Hotcakes’ kitchen. And so, in the heart of the whimsical forest, the tradition of Hotcakes’ breakfast feasts became a cherished and delicious part of each day.

Writing The Story

So it’s a simple short story that explains the poster. I already had a picture of Hotcakes to use for the poster – and I’ll explain later how I acquired that. ChatGPT is the AI tool I used to help write the story. I gave ChatGPT the following prompt to see what it would come up with:

“I have a picture of a bear cub standing in a kitchen holding a stack of hotcakes that he is offering to anyone who wants some. Presumably the cub made the pancakes he is offering. His name is Hotcakes. Write a short children’s story about Hotcakes loving to make breakfast.”

After I read the story produced, I asked for 2 additional versions. My personal experience is that anymore than 3 versions and ChatGPT seems to start repeating itself. Have any of you had similar experiences with having succeeding AI versions resembling the priors in many ways?

With the 3 variations I was able to merge them into 1 using my own words and writing. The story then made more sense than any of the variations by themselves. AI is helpful – but only to a point. Eventually a human touch is needed.

The Image Of Hotcakes The Bear Cub

For the image of Hotcakes I tried several AI art generators using the following prompt:

“A photo realistic image of a bear cub holding a stack of pancakes in one hand and a spatula in the other hand. The bear is wearing an apron and a chef’s hat.”

Each image generator came back with 4 images, but some looked like sketches or drawings – not what I wanted. Bing Image Creator came back with 4 images that I really liked and so I chose one of them for the poster. I’ll omit showing you the runner-ups. It pays to experiment around for the right look.

Upscaling The Image

Since the resolution and sharpness of pictures from any of these image generators isn’t very good for enlarging – I needed to upscale the image. The photo term upscaling means adding more detail to a picture so it won’t pixelate or blur when enlarged. There are many programs and photo applications to accomplish this. I chose to run it through a free to use upscaler at https://imgupscaler.media.io/ to upscale it 4 times larger than the original.

The Background Kitchen Photo

I then searched for the appropriate background kitchen photo at Pixabay.com. The perfect one was taken by ErikaWittlieb. You can see her original here on Pixabay.
Following the rules of Pixabay’s content license I incorporated it into my poster.

Designing The Poster

The next step was uploading the images to my favorite designing software at Kittl.com to begin working on the poster.

After uploading the light blue background of the picture of Hotcakes had to be removed and Kittl does it very well. Kittl also allows me to give the image a slight shadow and blur on the edges to enhance the image.

And a little manipulation was needed to get the cub’s image at the right place on the background photo.

Finally I had to choose a typeface. I chose one called Bustery at 200 pt. Using the text effects I gave the letters a thin border and a color transition from lighter brown to darker brown towards the lower portion of the letters.

The first image of Hotcakes the bear cub on the left has the background removed, using Kittl, and the edges were slightly blurred to give a shadow effect. Then the background photo was brought in for the next photo. Finally, the text was added to complete the poster.

So, if you liked the story of Hotcakes the bear cub and the demo, please leave a comment below. Also, click on the photo of the final version of the poster above and see the poster in my store and get more details. Thanks for reading.

Check out my featured posters here.

Do you ask for what you want often enough?

Check out the Smart Versus Wise Person Poster