Studying Honey Bees in a Montessori Primary Classroom
The world is buzzing with life during the spring; quite literally, actually, in a honey bee hive where more than 50,000 bees emerge from their winter cluster and begin completing their many jobs. With so much buzz surrounding the lives and jobs of honey bees, there is sure to be a hive-full of information for children to learn so get buzzing!
Montessori Classroom Activities
- Build a wild beehive
- Visit a local beekeeper
- Introduce a practical life activity that includes honey
- Do a honey taste testing
- Demonstrate how pollen sticks to bees - the guide dips their hands into feathers or cotton balls using gloves covered in double-sided tape
- Visit a flower garden to observe honey bees in action
- Do printing with bubble wrap to make a hive
- Make beeswax candles
- Dissect a flower
- Discuss that a queen bee can lay 1,000 eggs each day using the 1,000 cube from the Golden Beads materials as a visual
- Discuss the shape of honeycombs as perfect hexagons using the Geometric Cabinet
- Have the children practice making hexagon shapes for honeycombs using a peg board
Montessori Classroom Materials
- Water transfer using a honeycomb silicone pot holder
- Transfer pollen (yellow pom poms) into a honeycomb shaped ice tray or mold
- Honey Bee Puzzle (can also be used for transferring "pollen")
- Honey Bee 3-part cards (included with the Honey Bee Puzzle listed above)
- Honey Bee Life Cycle Figures
- Honey Bee Life Cycle Puzzle
- Pollinators Puzzle
- Cards and counters with small honey bee or honeycomb manipulatives
Books
- The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons
- Honeybees (Insects Up Close) by Christina Leaf
- National Geographic Kids Explore My World: Honey Bees by Jill Esbaum
- Honeybees by Emily Neye
- World of Insects: Honey Bees by Colleen Sexton
- The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci
- Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera by Candace Fleming
- David of the Bees by Francie Farmer
- David of the Bees Gathers Honey by Francie Farmer
- Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber
- Honey Bees: Discover Pictures and Facts About Honeybees for Kids! by Bold Kids
- Bussee: A Story About the Life of a Honeybee by Gregory A. Borneman
- The Bee: A Kid’s Guide to Getting Started in Beekeeping by Hudson E. Dunlap
- In The Trees, Honey Bees: A Rhyming Nature Book for Kids by Lori Mortenson
- Honey Teaches Beekeeping to Kids by Justin Ruger
- Bee: A Peek-Through Picture Book by Britta Teckentrup
- Discover the Busy World of the Beehive by Petra Bartikova
- Bees: A Honeyed History by Piotr Socha
Resources
- Whole Kids Foundation - World of Honey Bees
- National Geographic Kids - Honey Bee