Hands on activities for learning about bees in the preschool and Montessori classroom.
When you’re working with preschoolers and young children, keep in mind that they need to have exposure to the real thing before working with abstract representations of it. This is particularly true for nature. Spend lots of time in nature. Get dirty, see the bugs, hear them buzzing, learn how to be safe around insects and critters without being scared of them or hurting them.
Bees are all around outside in the spring. Or are they? They used to be, but now at least one type of bee is on the endangered species list. So perhaps you won’t see as many of them outside as you may have in the past. Still, take a nature walk and try to hunt specifically for bees. Take a field trip to a bee farm. Visit a nature center with a live bee exhibit.
In the classroom, try some of these activities to keep bees in the child’s awareness.
Learning About Bees
- Download our free Honey Bee Life Cycle cards from the Free Resource Library
- Living Montessori Now has recently added a whole printable pack about bees! (Not pictured). You can also download a gorgeous watercolor poster of a honey bee made by the Montessori Company here.
Bees on the Fine Motor Shelf
- Water transfer using a honeycomb silicone potholder from Still Playing School. What a great find! I would never have thought to look for something like this!
- Make a honeycomb necklace from You Are The Roots
- Transferring pompom “pollen” into a cardstock honeycomb from From ABCs to ACTs
Bees on the Art Shelf
- Yuliya from Welcome to Mommyhood has a wonderful set of cutting strips (of varying difficulty) that you can download for free.
- Do some printing with bubblewrap to make a hive, and fingerprints for bees, from Crafty Morning
- Make rolled beeswax candles, from Rock Your Homeschool
Make your own Miniature Bees
- Draw stripes on yellow glass flat beads from Stimulating Learning with Rachel
- Paint beads and add wax paper wings from Nurturing Learning
- Twist pipecleaners and add some tulle for wings (Source)
Honey Tasting
Gift of Curiosity has a great activity for honey taste testing when learning about bees. Perfect for sensorial!
More Resources for Learning About Bees
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Seemi holds a Master's degree in education, and an AMS Early Childhood credential. She has twenty years of experience in Montessori as a teacher, school administrator, and school owner. She is the founder of TrilliumMontessori.org.