Kindergarteners will get to know interesting facts about the life of bees. They will develop their mathematical and language skills. They will do an artcraft entitled ‘Busy bees’. Children will also develop their dexterity in the set of gymnastic exercises and go for a walk to look for and observe the bees.

Materials:

double-sided printed flowers with the numbers on the reverse and syllabes writen inside, bees made of the boxes from surprise eggs with letters on wings and curiosities inside, a song entitled ‘Here is the beehive’, template with a branch, watercolors, brushes, cups with water, bubble wrap, yellow and white sheets, yellow pompons, black chenille pipe, movable eyes, scissores, glue sticks, a piece entitled ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’, ringos/sashes, bean bags, whistle, a piece entitled ‘Waltz of the flowers’, colorful handkerchiefs, a song entitled ‘Here is the beehive’.

Activity description:

1. ‘Greeting fingers’ – greeting children – children stand on the carpet in disarray. Teacher shows them his/her palm and names each finger. Next, teacher tells that we will greet by our thumbs/rings/index/middle and little finger. Children walk in the kindergarten room and greet each other with selected fingers.

2. ‘May meadow’– movement and didactic activity – teacher places on the carpet the emblems of flowers and bees from surprise eggs. Children move and sing a song entitled ‘Here is the beehive’. They can’t stand on the flowers. After the song, teacher asks children to take one flower or bee. Children sit on the carpet and places in front of them the things they collected.

3. ‘What is hidden by bees?’ – didactic activity – teacher asks children to place the flowers in the correct order – from the lowest to the highest number. Next, teacher asks them to turn over them. Teacher asks children with bees to place them in the correct flower – according to the letters on the wings and on the flowers. Next, they open bees – surprise eggs – and teacher reads curiosities about these insects.

4. ‘Bees dancing’ – movement activity – children – ‘bees’ – move in the kindergarten room to the rhythm of a tambourine. When the music stops, they form pairs and try to provide any information through dance – they establish who will dance first, and the second bee tries to guess the meaning. Next, they exchange the roles. Repeat it 3-4 times.

5. ‘Busy bees’ – artwork – teacher presents and says children how to do an artwork (paint the branch, leaves and sky with watercolors. Press a beehive and make bees, which we stick around the beehive). Next, teacher asks selected children to place materials and asks the group to go to the tables. At last, they clean up, sit on the carpet and present their works.

1. Paint the branch, leaves and sky with watercolors and put away to dry.
2. Cut the beehive from the bubble wrap.
3. Paint the bubble wrap with orange watercolor – on the convex side.
4. Press the beehive on the yellow sheet and put it away to dry.
5. Cut chenille pipes in half.
6. Cut the wings for bees from the white sheet or the bubble wrap.
7. We wrap the pompons by creative wires, stick the movable eyes and wings.
8. Cut the beehive from the yellow sheet.
9. Stick the beehive under the branch and the bees around the beehive.

6. ‘Gymnastic for kids’ – set of gymnastic exercises – children do gymnastic exercises according to the teacher’s instruction:

1. ‘Flying to the meadow’ – children move to the piece ‘Flight of the Bubblebee’.
2. ‘From flower to flower’ – teacher places in two rows ringos/sashes – ‘flowers’ one by one. Next, teacher divides children into two groups for example by countdown. Each group stands at the beginning of the row with the ‘flowers’. Children – ‘bees’ – have to jump from flower to flower, for the first time with both legs, the second time on the right leg and the third time on the left leg. Next, teacher places ‘flowers’ at distances from each other and children repeat the tasks.
3. ‘Collecting the pollen’ – teacher places the bean bags – ‘pollen’ in the ringos/sashes – ‘flowers’. Children – ‘bees’ – have to jump from flower to flower and collect the ‘pollen’ – as much as possible. After jumping the track, children stay on the other side and wait for the rest of the group. Teacher places the ‘pollen’ on the ‘flowers’ every time. When all the ‘bees’ are on the other side, they collect the ‘pollen’ again – this time jumping on one leg.
4. ‘Bringing pollen to the hive’ – children sit in groups in front of them to hold their hands. Pairs hold hands near the floor, but between hands and the floor, the child should be able to crawl. Children – ‘bees’ – from the last pair – lay on the floor. Teacher places on their legs two bean bags – ‘pollen’. They have to crawl under the tunnel with their hands, go into the ‘hive’ and don’t lose the ‘pollen’. After finishing, they sit at the beginning of the row and the next pair brings the ‘pollen’ in the ‘hive’.
5. ‘Waltz of the bees’ – teacher gives away the colorful handkerchiefs and turns on the piece ‘Waltz of the flowers’. Children have to dance with the handkerchiefs to the music.
6. ‘Blowing wind’ – children sit on the carpet and blow on handkerchiefs to float them in the air. After 30-40 seconds they catch the handkerchiefs with both hands for the sides and hold them in front of the face. Next, they blow on the handkerchiefs, according to the teacher’s instruction: ‘A tiny breeze is blowing/strong wind/gale’. After the activity, they breathe deep three times through the nose and exhales through the mouth. They are lining up and giving back the handkerchiefs to the teacher.

7. ‘Here is the beehive’ – learning the song – learning the second part of a song entitled ‘Here is the beehive’.

8. ‘Here is the beehive’ – movement activity – children with their teacher sing and show the correct movements.

9. ‘Bee searchers’ – nature observation walk – teacher informs the group that they will go for a walk to observe flowers and look for bees. Next, he/she reminds them about safety rules during the walk. Children have to observe what bees do and how they buzz.

Attachments:

Template for printing for the ‘May meadow’ activity

Cards for the ‘May meadow’ and ‘What is hidden by bees?’ activities

Template for the ‘Busy bees’ artwork

Pages used:

1. https://supersimple.com/song/here-is-the-beehive/ – a song entitled ‘Here Is The Beehive’
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucrKUO9FVfY – a piece entitled ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ for the gymnastic
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC7PycSBILc – a piece entitled ‘Waltz of the flower’ for the gymnastic
4. https://supersimple.com/how-to-teach-super-simple-songs/how-to-teach-here-is-the-beehive/ – show of movements to a song entitled ‘Here is the beehive’