Care Bears are multi-colored bears, originally painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. In 1983, the characters were turned into plush teddy bears.
The characters headlined their own television series called Care Bears from 1985 to 1988. They also made three feature films: The Care Bears Movie (1985), Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986), and The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (1987).
Each Care Bear is a different color and has a special “belly badge” that represents its personality. Adding to the Care Bear family is the “Care Bear Cousins”, which feature a lion, rabbit, penguin, raccoon, monkey, elephant, pig, lamb, dog, cat, and horse created in the same style as the Care Bears.
The 10 original Care Bears consisted of Bedtime Bear, Birthday Bear, Cheer Bear, Friend Bear, Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear, Grumpy Bear, Love-a-lot Bear, Tenderheart Bear, and Wish Bear. Later on, additional bears joined them, as well as the Cousins.
