Classroom Activities
Activity One: Honeybee Body Structure / Staying Healthy
Objective: Students will be introduced to interdependent relationships between animals, plants, and their environment.
Materials: read-aloud book - Please Please the Bees, copies of bee labeling activity, pencils scissors, glue
Begin the unit by reading Please Please the Bees by Gerald Kelley. This will introduce the unit with a fundamental foundation of biodiversity, recognizing that bees, the bear, and the flowers all work together to support each other. Discuss the connections the students discover in the story.
Introduce the body of a bee by showing the video, Little Science Lab: Busy Buzzing Bees #1 - Bee Body Parts, or one similar. This eight-minute video shows students each part of a bee and teaches the correct terms and vocabulary. They will then complete the labeling activity.
Activity Two: Honeycomb Models
Objective: Students will create a model of a honeycomb and understand the purpose of its design.
Materials: Yellow hexagon pattern blocks, ping pong balls, yellow paint, paintbrush, black permanent marker, glue, scissors, white construction paper, cardboard tubes (cut into 1” sections), black pipe cleaners cut in 2” pieces
In groups of two, have students use pattern blocks to design a beehive flat on their tables. Have them ensure that the edges are touching, and the honeycomb is all connected. With this design as an example, the student can now create their own.
This next set of steps should be modeled by the teacher before students work on their own:
In groups of two, have the students start by building the beehive. First, have them fold the rings in half. Then, unfold and fold in half again until the ring has a hexagonal shape. They don’t need to be perfect.
Once the rings are all folded, the students can pick two, add a dot of glue to connect them and they will continue building out until their beehive is the desired shape and size.
To make the bees, you can purchase yellow ping pong balls or other similarly sized balls. Students can paint them yellow. Once dry, have them draw a circle for the face using the black permanent marker. They can add eyes, a nose, and a mouth. They can then draw black rings around the ping pong balls for the bees’ stripes and add a small triangle on the side opposite the face. This is the bee’s stinger. Fold the small pipe cleaner piece into a ‘v’ shape and glue it to the bee’s face for his antenna. They will then cut out two oval shapes from white construction paper. Fold the wing on the tab and add a drop of glue. Attach it to the bee.
The honeycomb sections can be connected and displayed on a bulletin board.
Activity Three: Honeybee Dances / Where are the Flowers?
Objective: Students will learn that movement is a method bees use to communicate called a “waggle dance.”
Materials: a variety of artificial flowers
Introduce the “waggle dance” that bees use to communicate where to find nectar. Because they cannot talk, they use movement as a form of communication. Use the video to show a bee, who has just returned to the hive, telling others where to head out to find the flowers they need: Honeybee Dance Language (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lhVBNQ-Ik8).
Hide different silk flowers somewhere in your room. Explain to children that bees communicate with each other using a dance. If a bee finds a source of food, the bee will fly back to the hive and tell the other bees how to find the flower. Choose one child to pretend to be a bee and instruct the child how to find the flower. Use gestures to indicate forward, to the right, to the left, behind, above, under, etc. Then let the child go and find the flower and show it to the group. Repeat this activity for other students. With practice, the students will be able to direct their classmates to find flowers they have hidden.
Activity Four: Bee Box Shelters
Materials: tin soup or bean can, large plastic bottles, or small milk cartons from school; art supplies to decorate the can; sheets of 8 ½ x 11” scrap paper, scissors, pencils, tape, glue, toilet paper rolls, twigs from outside, string
Clean and completely dry the interior of a used tin can or milk carton. Have students decorate with items, such as stickers, paint, construction paper, or colorful tape. Cut each piece of scrap paper in half, making sure each piece is a bit shorter than the can or box when you hold them up horizontally.
Have students roll a piece of scrap paper around a pencil. Make sure they roll it five or six times so the tube being created is a little thick. After rolling the paper, help them tape it closed and wiggle it gently off the pencil. This should be repeated until each student has about 30 rolls. Some rolls can be a bit longer or shorter than others as long as they all measure at least six inches.
Students now over the bottom of the can or box with glue and stick the toilet paper roll inside. The roll will help keep the thinner tubes stay snug in the can. Once the toilet paper roll is in, students then place the thinner tubes in the roll, making sure the tubes don’t get squished, otherwise, the bees won’t be able to fit inside. Twigs are used in the open spaces around the toilet paper roll, breaking them so they don’t stick out from the can.
Once the rolls and twigs are in the can, students can tie two pieces of string around the can: one near the top and one near the bottom. Each piece of string should be long enough to wrap around the can twice with enough left over to allow the can to hang about 8 to 12 inches from a tree branch. Bee shelters should be located in sunny areas. Tie the bee home to a branch. It may take a little while for the bees to find the shelter. Return to check the bee home a few times a week to see if anyone has moved in.
Activity Five: Build a Bee Garden
Materials: outdoor planting containers; variety of small flowering plants and/or seeds; plant name labels, like popsicle sticks; permanent markers
Create a container garden to include flowers that attract bees, such as Black-eyed Susans, lantana, and zinnias, and herbs such as lavender, basil, and sage. Have students write on plant labels to keep track of the plants included in the project. Place the containers in an area that is sunny and visually accessible so that students can observe any bee activity that they may generate. Students can keep track of which flowers are visited by the bees.
Additional activities:
Use paints and pens and create pieces of artwork for the bulletin boards
Create a collage, using dried flowers you know the bees like, and mount it onto the wall.
Try a version of encaustic art.
Have a bee-themed fancy-dress party.
Make a bee-themed, hanging mobile.
Invent a dance to the tune: The Flight of the Bumblebee
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