Daycare Lesson Plans on Bees
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These Daycare Lesson Plans on Bees are a perfect fit for spring or summer. These buzzing bugs offer a chance to explore science, nature, art, movement, and dramatic play in a fun and engaging ways. It’s the perfect lesson plan for your daycare kids.
Bees are some of the most fascinating and important creatures on our planet. Teaching young children about bees helps them learn about pollination, the life cycle of insects, and how bees contribute to our food system.
For a printable version of daycare lesson plans on bees with 2 weeks (8 days) of activities, a printable supply list, and a schedule to use, check out our bee lesson plan listing on Etsy.
Books About Bees
I love to start each lesson plan with a book and base all my activities around it. We used “The Honeybee and the Robber” by Eric Carle for our plans. It’s hard to find, but it’s one of my favorites. If you need another choice, check out these below:
- The Very Greedy Bee by Steve Smallman
- Bee: A Peek-Through Picture Book by Britta Teckentrup
- Give Bees a Chance by Bethany Barton
- The Honeybee by Kirsten Hall
- Are You a Bee? by Judy Allen
Once I have the book, we use the first day to explore it and then go from there. Read the book and talk about how bees make honey and what they use it for. You can talk about pollination of plants. And why honey is important to us as well.
Music and Songs
Buzzing Bee Songs:
- “I’m Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee”
- “Here is the Beehive”
- “Bumblebee, Bumblebee, Landing on Me.”
Bee-Themed Ideas
Learn about bees: Show real photos or a short video clip of bees pollinating flowers
Bee Lap Book: Try out this Bee Life Cycle Lap Book printable that you can download from Etsy. Kids can explore the different facts about bees and their life cycle.
Bee puppet: Use a bee puppet to introduce the theme and spark discussion.
Count bees: Count bee toys or felt bees together. You can even get bee manipulatives like these.
Art and Craft Activities
Fingerprint Bees: Use yellow and black paint to make buzzing bees from fingerprints. This one has a printable hive as well.
Beehive Painting with Bubble Wrap: Dip bubble wrap in yellow paint and press onto paper for a honeycomb effect.
Color a Bee: Use these bug coloring sheets to print out a bee sheet to color. Or get these bee life cycle film strip sheets.
Tissue Paper Bee Collage: Provide yellow and black tissue paper, glue, and cardstock to create bee collages.
Paper Plate Bee Masks: Cut eye holes in a plate, decorate with paint or paper, and add pipe cleaner antennae.
Honeycomb Stamping: Use hexagon shapes or sponges to stamp honeycomb patterns on paper.
Sensory and Fine Motor Activities
Pollination Sensory Bin: Use faux flowers, pom-poms as pollen, and small bee toys for scooping and transferring.
Honey Playdough: Add a touch of honey or vanilla to yellow playdough for a sweet scent and use bee cookie cutters. You can even try these insect life cycle playdough mats with your playdough.
Pom-Pom Bee Transfer: Use tongs to move black and yellow pom-poms from flower cups to an egg carton hive. We use cardboard tubes to make honeycomb shapes, glued them together and did our yellow pom poms with tweezers in that. The kids love it!
Bee Tracing Sheets: Grab these bee tracer pages to practice holding a pencil and fine motor skills.
Gross Motor and Outdoor Play
Bee Dance: Buzz around like bees in a flower field! Practice flying, landing, and dancing.
Pollination Tag: One child is a bee, others are flowers. When tagged, flowers give a pretend “pollen” object to the bee.
Bee Obstacle Course: Set up flowers, tunnels, and a hive for the children to buzz through.
Dramatic Play Ideas
Beekeeper Station: Set up a play area with hats, gloves, toy tools, and pretend bees or hives.
Flower Shop: Let kids sell flowers and buzz around pretending to pollinate them.
Snack and Cooking Activities
Taste honey: You can let the kids taste a dip of honey from a spoon or make it even more fun and let them chew it from a little bite of the comb. It has a different experience biting into the beeswax and having the honey pour out of it. Lots of sensory experiences are going on there.
Honey Crackers: Offer graham crackers with a thin spread of honey (if age-appropriate).
Bee-Themed Snack Tray: Use black olives, cheese cubes, and crackers to create a bee color pattern snack.
Make Bee Bread: Mix sunflower butter and crushed cereal or oats to form “bee bread” balls like real bees store.
Science and Discovery Activities
Observe a honeycomb: My sister keeps bees, so we always have a honeycomb frame in our freezer. (If you don’t freeze them, they disintegrate.) I always take that out and let the kids see how intricate the comb is and how the pattern is perfect.
Magnify a Bee: Use a magnifying glass to observe a plastic bee or a photo.
Grow Flowers for Bees: Plant bee-friendly flowers like sunflowers or marigolds in your garden. Then when they grow, watch the magic! We love planting a pollinator garden for bees.
Life Cycle of a Bee: Use cards or felt pieces to show the stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult bee. We have a bee life cycle model that we use.
For more science for preschoolers and toddlers, check this out.
Learning About Helping Bees
Talk About Bee Safety: Teach children not to swat bees and to respect their space.
Create a Bee Bath: Fill a shallow dish with pebbles and water for bees to safely land and drink.
Bees offer a wealth of learning opportunities for curious young minds. This buzzing theme will fill your daycare with laughter, creativity, and newfound appreciation for these tiny garden helpers.
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