G is for Garden (year 2, week 34)

This week, I had intended that we'd be talking about gardens, flowers, and the plant life cycle.  The kids have been asking a lot of questions about bees and wasps, so I decided to focus on pollinators this week.

I bought the Incredible Creatures Honeybee, which has been a neat addition to our school supplies.  We used the 6" figurine to learn about insects.  We felt its stinger (and didn't get stung), counted it's legs, and named it's body parts.  The texture of it is so neat that it makes me want to buy a bunch more and decorate my kitchen with them.

We also looked at the bee life cycle, using the Safari Ltd Life Cycle Figurines.  We talked about how similar bees are to other insects and how every insect goes through the same stages.

{Printables}
- flower to hive pollen transfer
- beehive counting by 10's
- bees and letter B game
- hexagons and beehive worksheets
- parts of a honeybee cards
- life cycle poster
- bee addition

- John Deere picture cards
- plant life cycle
- plant science notebook pages
- vegetable garden Montessori printables
- sorting fruits and veg by color

{Ideas}
- drink like a pollinator
- cheeto pollination
- bee hive cereal transfer
- books about bees
- bubble wrap painting
- honey transfer

- flower shop pretend play
- how plants grow experiment
- dirt play dough
- regrowing kitchen scraps
- dissecting flowers
- button flowers
- sorting fruits and veggies
- planting noodle seeds
- garden sensory bin


Videos:
- The Bee Movie
- Maya the Bee (free on Prime right now)
- City of Bees: A Children's Guide to Bees
- plant life cycle