Children will celebrate World Bee Day. They will watch an animated story entitled ‘Save the bees’ which will be an excellent introduction to practical activities: building a bee hotel and planting honey flowers.

Materials:

a song entitled ‘Hello!’, a worksheet entitled ‘World Bee Day’, crayons, a rhyme entitled ‘Bees here’, an animated story entitled ‘Save the bees’, ringos/sashes, a song entitled ‘Busy Bee’, tins/kitchen paper roll, sheets of scrap paper/plastic straws/bamboo canes, branches, scissors, tape, glue, string, seedlings of honey flowers, flower pots, soil, seedlings, garden tools.

Activity description:

1. ‘Hello!’ – greeting children with the song – children sit in a circle with their teacher. Teacher turns on the song and shows the correct movements. Children try to imitate them.

Hello, hello, hello, how are you? (wave to each other)
Hello, hello, hello, how are you? (wave to each other)

I’m good. (show one thumb)
I’m great! (show two thumbs)
I’m wonderful! (raise thumbs up)
I’m good. (show one thumb)
I’m great! (show two thumbs)
I’m wonderful! (raise thumbs up

Hello, hello, hello, how are you? (wave to each other)
Hello, hello, hello, how are you? (wave to each other)

I’m tired. (wipe forehead with a hand)
I’m hungry. (massage the belly)
I’m not so good. (wave index finger)

I’m tired. (wipe forehead with a hand)
I’m hungry. (massage the belly)
I’m not so good. (wave index finger)

2. ‘World Bee Day’ – introduction to the topic using a worksheet – teacher shows a worksheet and explains how they should do the task (color places by number with the right color). Next, teacher asks children to go to the tables and gives away the worksheets. During the task, teacher walks between the tables and helps children if they need it. Then, children sit in the circle and place the worksheets in front of them. Teacher asks children what connects the pictures (bees). Teacher informs that on May 20 we celebrate the World Bee Day. It has been celebrated since 2017. The World Bee Day reminds us the importance of bees in our life. We have to remember that we should care of them.

3. ‘Bees here’ – movement activity – teacher reads the rhyme. Children stand in a circle and show the correct body part. Repeat it 4-5 times – each time increasing the speed of saying the rhyme.

Bees here

Bees here, bees there, bees, bees everywhere!
Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz!
Bees on my shoulders,
Bees on my toes,
Bees on my belly and,
Bees on my nose!
Bees on my arms,
Bees on my lips,
Bees on my knees and
Bees on my hips!
Bees here, bees there, bees, bees everywhere!
Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz!

4. ‘Save the bees’ – watching a story – children sit on the carpet and teacher invites them to watch and listen to the part of the animated story entitled ‘Save the bees’ (2:46-6:43). After that, he/she talks with them about the movie.

1. Why is it hard to travel from flowers to the beehive?
2. What sometimes happens when bees travel far from the beehive to find nectar?
3. What kinds of flowers are bees’ favorite?
4. How did Mateo and Cho help the bees?
5. How can we help?

5. ‘Bees on flowers’ – movement activity – teacher places on the carpet ringos/sashes – ‘flowers’ in different colors. Children – ‘bees’ move in the preschool room to the song entitled ‘Busy Bee’. During a break, teacher says one of the colors of ringos/sashes, and children have to make circles around the ‘flowers’ in a given color. Next, they count down the number of bees in the group and say it. After that, they ‘fly’ among the ‘flowers’ again to the music. Play this game 4-5 times.

6. “Bee Hotel” – practical activity – teacher asks children why bees are so important to us and what can we do for them on their celebration day? When they answer, teacher encourages them to make a shelter for bees. He/she divides children into groups (about 3-4 persons in one group) and asks them to go to the tables. Then, they clean up, sit on the carpet and present their works. The ideas for bee hotel can be found here, here and here.

7. ‘Sleeping bee’ – movement activity – teacher chooses a child (‘bee’), who will ‘sleep’ inside the circle. He/she lays on the carpet. The group walks around him or her, holding hands. When teacher says: ‘Catch us’!, children have to run and the child from inside the circle has to catch one of them. The child that is caught will be the new ‘bee’ and sleep inside the circle. Repeat it 4-5 times. If children want to play longer, say that you can do it after dinner/tea.

8. “Flowers for us and bees” – outdoor activity – teacher informs children that at the end of the classes and celebrating the World Bee Day, they will do something very good and useful for us and the bees, that is for the environment. Then, he/she shows seedlings of honey flowers and says that in a moment they will plant them in our garden/pot. After that, they will choose trees in a sunny location and hang the new bee homes.

Attachments:

‘World Bee Day’ worksheet

Pages used:

1. https://supersimple.com/song/hello/ – a song entitled ‘Hello!’
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k24UiJmEjKY&ab – an animated story entitled ‘Save the bees’ for the ‘Save the bees’ activity
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYnNTI1_L1A&ab – a song entitled ‘Busy Bee’
4. https://www.pbs.org/parents/crafts-and-experiments/make-a-wild-bee-hotel – an idea of the bee hotel for the ‘Bee Hotel’ activity
5. https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/gardening-children-schools/family-activities/activities/activities/make-a-bee-hotel – an idea of the bee hotel for the ‘Bee Hotel’ activity
6. https://www.naturalbeachliving.com/mason-bee-habitat/ – an idea of the bee hotel for the ‘Bee Hotel’ activity