The kids and I have been playing our way through the beginning of our Mother Goose Time curriculum focused on bees. The schedule has been a little erratic and since the weather has been so warm we’ve been spending lots of time outside. As a result we combined two days of Mother Goose Time into one. I love how easy it is to adjust Mother Goose Time to fit my needs and the needs and wants of my children.
We started the morning with our online coloring sheets provided by Mother Goose Time and read Curious George A Home for Honeybees. If you use Mother Goose Time, don’t skip the books!!! They make such a huge difference with my kids and make the activities more meaningful for them!!! Then we headed outdoors for some crafting, play, and exploration!
Beehive Stamping
I gave the kids paper beehives cut outs, bubble wrap, paint, tape, play dough, egg cartons, scissors, and markers, and told them they could build a bee hive. While the kids played with the materials, we discussed how the bee hive is divided into cells. Inside the cells bees store food or lay eggs.
I gave them this Invitation to Play.
I invited the kids to paint using the bubble wrap and encouraged them to make cell designs on the bee hive cut outs.
Then, I turned them loose to create their own beehives out of the materials on the table.
They thought that the markers made excellent cells in the play dough and Ladybug used some tape to make sure there was only one way in and out of the hive.
Here is Ladybug’s finished beehive.
Owl thought Ladybug had a great idea, but was pretty sure her home was too big, so he asked me to help him make a round home with marker cells. I was happy to comply.
After lunch we played some games!
Fill the Honeycomb
We played a simple game where the kids worked together to fill the honeycomb. They rolled a dice and were able to place that many bingo chips or “bits of honey and pollen” from the flowers into the honeycomb.The game relied on cooperation to get the honeycomb filled and for a pair of toddlers they did pretty well.
Hexagon Designs
Using the attribute blocks included in this month’s curriculum, the kids found all the hexagons and got familiar with the shape. We then created hexagons out of straws and sticks.
Beehive Rhyme
The kids love this adorable rhyme poster from Mother Goose time. There are five bees that attach to the poster via velcro dots. I hid the bees all over the room and as the kids found them they added them to the poster. They were sure to count and make sure they had found all five! We’ve done this more than once – OK, really a few hundred times now – LOL
Then we headed back outdoors for some science and a snack!
Transfer the Nectar
My daughter loved this simple activity. Using a pipette she transferred “nectar” from a “flower” to a cell in a “bee hive.” Her nectar was purple of course and her brother’s was blue. She adored this activity.
Bee Snack
Using a banana, chocolate pudding, pretzels, and raisans the kids were given the go ahead to play with their food and design a butterfly.
Ladybug enjoyed this and did pretty well.
Owl thought the chocolate pudding contaminated his banana and needed another.
He was much happier when I handed him a “non-contaminated banana” and he could hang out spotting some airplanes!
Ladybug ate all the left over chocolate pudding and then returned to the transferring the nectar activity complete with chocolate pudding face.
We then read a non-fiction book about bees that the kids loved called Bumblebee by J.V. Wilson and Adrienne Kennaway. This helped out a ton when it came to discussing bees and what they ate. We used our look inside cards from Mother Goose Time to facilitate more discussion about the bees in the story.
Look Inside Cards
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As a blog ambassador for Mother Goose Time, I am happy to share preschool curriculum ideas, activities, and crafts with my readers. Mother Goose Time provides our family the opportunity to use their curriculum free of charge in exchange for honest and authentic stories based on our personal experience.
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