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

Materials:

bees made of boxes from surprise eggs with letters for wings and curiosities inside, a song entitled ‘Busy Bee’, a template with a branch, watercolors, brushes, cups with water, bubble wrap, yellow and white sheets, yellow pompons, black chenille pipe, movable eyes, scissors, 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. 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 preschool 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 ‘Busy Bee’. 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 invites children who have bees and asks them to put them in an indicated place on the carpet. Then, he/she invites other children who do not have bees to open the surprise bees. Teacher reads out particular curiosities one by one.

4. ‘Bees dancing’ – movement activity – children – ‘bees’ – move in the preschool 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 and leaves. Paint the bubble wrap and stick it on the sheet. Imprint bees around the hive with fingers and draw heads, foreheads and stripes). 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 and put away to dry.
2. Stick the bubble wrap under the branch – on the convex side.
3. Paint the bubble wrap with watercolors.
4. Imprint bees with fingers in yellow watercolor.
5. Imprint wings with fingers in white watercolor.
6. Draw heads, foreheads and stripes using a black marker.

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 a piece entitled ‘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 their task.
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 they can’t lose the ‘pollen’. At last, 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 entitled ‘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 line up and give back the handkerchiefs to their teacher.

7. ‘Busy Bee’ – learning the song – learning the second part of a song entitled ‘Busy Bee’.

8. ‘Busy Bee’ – 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYnNTI1_L1A&ab – a song entitled ‘Busy Bee’
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucrKUO9FVfY – a piece entitled ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ for the gymnastic exercises
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC7PycSBILc – a piece entitled ‘Waltz of the flower’ for the gymnastic exercises