<![CDATA[The HoneyB3E Hive]]>

<![CDATA[The HoneyB3E Hive]]>https://www.honeyb3e.comhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o7rJ!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8ad77426-72d2-4850-b7a7-83e04e7b0ef3_500x500.pngThe HoneyB3E Hivehttps://www.honeyb3e.comSubstackWed, 06 May 2026 10:51:17 GMT<![CDATA[A Friendly Game]]>https://www.honeyb3e.com/p/a-friendly-gamehttps://www.honeyb3e.com/p/a-friendly-gameFri, 20 Sep 2024 13:47:22 GMTAs you read this, many young people will have been in school or homeschooled for about a month. Not every child is happy about this. Besides missing the freedom that came with the summer days, they also miss playing with their friends. When school started, some of those friendships were put on hold, leaving them with the sometimes difficult task of learning how to make new ones. Learning how to make new friends doesn’t get easier with age. So it’s important to help children learn these skills for their social success later.

Sometimes, we can ease the pain of making new friends by facilitating friendly interactions among children. School activities, sports, birthday parties, and holiday parties are common places to start. At these events, you can organize games that get children talking.

In Where the Sidewalk Ends, the beloved poet Shel Silverstein wrote about a fictional game in a poem titled, “Hug o’ War,” where children hug and laugh instead of tug and roughhouse. While hug o’ war might be fictional, you can use real team-based and cooperative games to get children playing nicely together. There are also games where everyone wins and there is no real score.

A game of get-to-know-you bingo could be just the thing you need. In this game, children walk around the room to find others who both share common interests and have unique experiences. Regardless of whether a child completes a row to “win,” they will be able to walk away from the game having learned how to introduce themselves, articulate questions, and speak about themselves to others with confidence. These are some of the skills we all need to know to be able to make new friends.

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This month’s HoneyB3E’s activity sheet titled A Friendly Game is available for free at http://www.honeyb3e.com.

A Friendly Game

2.19MB ∙ PDF file

2 sets of 10 bingo cards and 2 templates

While you’re there, be sure to subscribe to the HoneyB3E Hive newsletter for more activities.

Get a copy of our latest book Flags of the World on Amazon.

Look for a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein at this link or at your local library.

Thanks for reading The HoneyB3E Hive! This post is public so feel free to share it.

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]]><![CDATA[Fat of the Land]]>https://www.honeyb3e.com/p/fat-of-the-landhttps://www.honeyb3e.com/p/fat-of-the-landFri, 02 Aug 2024 14:30:55 GMTLiving off the fat of the land. That’s the wish that Lennie had when he shared his dream with George in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. It was a wish for abundance, a wish made of green grass, healthy cows and chickens, and bountiful waters. Farmers, watermen, and agriculture professionals of all types have the gift of knowing how to live off the fat of the land.

These days our food comes packed in bags with bright colors and pictures of vegetables at the peak of freshness. With access to food like this, it’s easy to forget that the frozen fish and canned peas we have the privilege of eating today came from people who worked the land.

Summertime is a great time to teach and remind young people about where their food comes from. Summer harvests yield ripe tomatoes; bright, crunchy carrots; and slurpy, run-down-your-chin juicy watermelon. Riding alongside you on the road, children see these fruits and vegetables at stands, adjacent to sprawling fields of corn, and just beyond the fields of cows resting lazily in the sun. Unfortunately, unless they are curious, children will look at these things as simply part of the background. When you point out how these fresh foods that they see along the side of the road are the very same foods that they can find in the store, they begin to realize that there are people connected to the food they eat.

In Watercress, author Andrea Wang shares her experience as a young girl learning about the people who were connected to her food. While traveling, her parents see watercress growing on the side of the road. When they pull over, she and her brother are told to harvest the watercress right where they are. She’s embarrassed, but after she learns how her own family gathered watercress in the past to survive, she realizes how fortunate she is to have the food.

Everything we eat has a story connected to it somehow. In this month’s activity, children are asked to write the story behind a food or a favorite dish they eat. While they may not know the workers who helped bring the food to their table or know of the work that was required to make the food edible, they can acknowledge the people and processes behind their food. You can share family food stories with children, too.

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This month’s HoneyB3E’s activity sheet titled Fat of the Land is available for download for free below.

Fat Of The Land

1.37MB ∙ PDF file

Farm to table activity sheets

While you’re here, also be sure to subscribe to the HoneyB3E Hive newsletter for more activities.

Get a copy of our latest book Flags of the World on Amazon.

Look for a copy of Watercress by Andrea Wang at this link or at your local library.

Thank you for reading The HoneyB3E Hive. This post is public so feel free to share it.

]]><![CDATA[Boogie Woogie]]>https://www.honeyb3e.com/p/boogie-woogiehttps://www.honeyb3e.com/p/boogie-woogieMon, 01 Jul 2024 12:30:58 GMTAs the Olympics kick into gear this July, children will see athletes from around the world jumping and running, leaping and twirling, kicking and scooting on their television screen. It’s natural that they would want to move about, too. You will see many children at play as make-believe gymnasts, cyclists, swimmers, and jumpers. You may even have the chance to see one of the newest sports to be part of the Olympic Games for the first time in 2024: breakdancing. The Olympics calls this sport “breaking,” but it is the same dancing style that was popular in the 70’s and well known for its popping, locking, and spinning moves on the ground.

Boogie in the Bronx book cover

This month’s story celebrates the movements found in Latin dance. Some of these moves can also be found in breakdancing. As you read the story, encourage children to make the same snapping and tapping movements found in the pages of the book.

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The story, Boogie in the Bronx by Jackie Azua Kramer, is actually a song. The lyrics make up the words in the book. On the back cover, you can scan a QR code that links you to the music and a YouTube video. As you read along and dance, you will hear the music of the Bronx, where many people of Latin heritage brought dances like salsa, samba, and the merengue to the streets of New York. The popularity of these dances today are much like the breakdancing craze of decades past.

Use this month’s activity sheet to practice dance-related words and verbs.

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This month’s HoneyB3E’s activity sheet is titled Boogie Woogie. Click below to download a copy of the activity sheet for free. While you’re here, be sure to subscribe to the HoneyB3E Hive newsletter for more activities, and check out HoneyB3E’s latest activity book Flags of the World.

Boogie Woogie

566KB ∙ PDF file

Activity sheets introducing verbs

Look for a copy of Boogie in the Bronx by Jackie Azua Kramer at this link or at your local library.

]]><![CDATA[Olympic Passport]]>https://www.honeyb3e.com/p/olympic-passporthttps://www.honeyb3e.com/p/olympic-passportMon, 03 Jun 2024 16:58:06 GMTIn just a few weeks the world will come together to celebrate the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, which will be hosted this year in Paris, France. Young people always find the Olympic Games fascinating. First, there is the opening ceremony with its regal music and the hundreds of athletes dressed in brightly colored uniforms that speak to the creativity and beauty of each respective nation. There are the smiling faces that look into the camera and wave to strangers throughout the world as they get closer to competing for medals that symbolize their affection for their home country. When the flags wave, children see the colors, patterns, and symbols that make up the flags of other nations. They may become curious about these flags or be inspired to learn more about their own.

The Olympic Games can be a great teaching tool for sparking children’s budding interest in learning more about the people of the world. In the days leading up to the opening ceremony, you can begin to build children’s interest in other countries by reading books with them that highlight the culture and customs of other nations. One such book is I Dream of Popo by Livia Blackburne.

The book tells the story of a small child born in Taiwan. She loves her grandmother and tells about their cherished moments through Chinese words and the sharing of Chinese customs. When the girl’s family emigrates to another country, the girl learns to adapt to her new surroundings. Years later when she visits her grandmother again, she realizes that she has forgotten some of the Chinese words she once knew, but her grandmother remains familiar. The story ends with the girl dreaming fondly of her popo, her grandmother.

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In this month’s activity, children will be invited to “visit” different countries. The first stop is Taiwan, where children will learn about the Taiwanese flag, geography, and culture. Of course, the United States is on this world tour, too. In the days building up to the start of the Olympic Games, you can use the remaining worksheets in the activity to explore more countries.

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This month’s HoneyB3E activity sheet titled Olympic Passport. Click below to download a copy of the activity sheet for free. While you’re here, also be sure to subscribe to the HoneyB3E Hive newsletter for more activities and check out HoneyB3E’s latest activity book Flags of the World.

Olympic Passport

5.66MB ∙ PDF file

An activity booklet that invites children to “visit” different countries.

Look for a copy of I Dream of Popo by Livia Blackburne at this link or at your local library.

]]><![CDATA[Unique Origins]]>https://www.honeyb3e.com/p/unique-originshttps://www.honeyb3e.com/p/unique-originsWed, 17 Apr 2024 14:02:16 GMTFor a child, every day is an adventure, even if that day includes nothing more than a quiet afternoon with a toy. It is through their imagination that children can turn the most seemingly uninteresting things into items that are creative and wonderous. It’s what happens when a cardboard box becomes an elaborate castle or an empty container of oatmeal becomes a drum. In this month’s story, a child’s imagination takes center stage as she dreams up the origin story for a beloved stuffed animal.

Penny & Pip by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann tells the story of Penny, a child, who is on her first class trip to the natural history museum. She sees animals and fish of all kinds. Among the dinosaurs, she sees an egg. Her new friend Pip emerges from an egg among the dinosaur bones. He follows her through the museum, and together they hatch a plan. Pip hides in the gift shop among the stuffed toys so Penny can buy him and take him home. No one but Penny knows that Pip is real!

Behind every imaginative play time, there is sure to be an elaborate story forming and growing in a child’s mind. Getting these and other stories down on paper helps children develop numerous skills, not the least of which are skills for building vocabulary and strengthening their ability to communicate in a variety of forms. This month’s activity asks children to follow Penny’s lead by making up an origin story about their own favorite stuffed doll or animal.

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This month’s HoneyB3E’s activity sheet titled Unique Origins helps children outline the basic parts of a story: the beginning, middle, and end. There are two variations that you can use based on a child’s writing ability. Use these to help children make up and record an origin story for their own favorite stuffed doll or animal. Click below to download a copy of the activity sheet for free.

HoneyB3E Story Organizer

413KB ∙ PDF file

Two story organizers to help children make up and record an origin story for their own favorite stuffed animal or doll.

Look for a copy of Penny & Pip by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann at this affiliate link or at your local library.

]]><![CDATA[Things That Go]]>https://www.honeyb3e.com/p/things-that-gohttps://www.honeyb3e.com/p/things-that-goTue, 26 Mar 2024 12:00:50 GMTDo you remember taking field trips as a child? You would leave the school holding hands with a partner, then enter the bus and take a seat on a hard, rectangular, gray leather seat-bench made for two. Everyone wanted to sit in the back so they could look out the window and pump their arms up and down when a big truck rolled by, hoping the driver would honk as he passed. We squealed at the sound of that horn!

Even today, children are often fascinated by things that go. Not only do they often move fast, things that go make noise, have unique shapes, and are usually colorful. Many times, they are also very big. To a small child, a car or a bus is an enormous and wondrous thing. They perceive the places they go as far off as we might imagine a spaceship that orbits the sun. We can use this natural curiosity that children have to read books and engage in activities with them that build their vocabulary about transportation.

Trucks on Trucks by Sorche Fairbank is a colorful book about trucks on the move. Each truck carries or pulls another truck with people or cargo. More than plot, this book focuses on presenting children with myriad trucks. Just trucks in different places around town. It is an excellent book for new readers to practice rhyming words, recognizing colors, and making comparisons. However, the book can also be used to develop interest in different forms of transportation.

In reading this book, children learn that there are many different kinds of trucks, and they expand their understanding about the types of trucks they see on the road. This month’s activity furthers children’s vocabulary development about different forms of transportation. It is a cut-and-paste activity that children can color, cut, and assemble to learn to spell transportation words.

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This month’s HoneyB3E’s activity sheet titled Things That Go helps children build their vocabulary of transportation words with a fun activity. Click below to download a copy for free.

HoneyB3E - Things That Go

2.49MB ∙ PDF file

Spelling activity. Materials: scissors, glue or tape, coloring pencils or crayons

Get your own copy of Trucks on Trucks by Sorche Fairbank at this affiliate link or from your local library.

]]><![CDATA[Expedition: Preposition]]>https://www.honeyb3e.com/p/expedition-prepositionhttps://www.honeyb3e.com/p/expedition-prepositionTue, 13 Feb 2024 13:32:08 GMTAs winter turns into spring, it’s the perfect time of year to awaken a young child’s senses. As the snow melts, they can guess what hides beneath. As flowers bloom, they can dig to see what else lies under the ground. As the birds return, they can take inventory of the types of birds that fly overhead. There are many opportunities to use nature and its seasonal changes as a learning tool.

This week, we will use a story about the natural world to explore prepositions. Parts of speech are generally taught to children well into the third grade, but the concepts that prepositions convey can be learned at any time. While children may not know the part of speech for the words they use, they can tell you in their own words where things are. They know the book is ON the shelf and that the shoe is UNDER the chair. They can recognize that they sit BETWEEN the friends that play on either side of them. Being able to identify and name the location of things is a foundational skill that supports every writer’s ability to produce creative work.

In A Stone Sat Still, the author Brenden Wenzel describes a small stone and the experiences it has with animals over time. The animals use it for various things, like shelter or comfort. The illustrations show how the animals interact with the stone. The animals fly above the stone, crowd in front of the stone, or hide under the stone over time.

In this week’s writing activity, children learn about and practice using prepositions to describe where things are in the world. They will select an object in nature and describe what they see around it.

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This month’s HoneyB3E’s activity sheet titled Expedition: Preposition helps children use prepositions to describe the world around them. Click below to download a copy for free.

HoneyB3E - Expedition: Preposition

108KB ∙ PDF file

Preposition writing activity

Get your own copy of A Stone Sat Still by Brenden Wenzel at this affiliate link or from your local library.

]]><![CDATA[Cows Show How to Ask for Change]]>https://www.honeyb3e.com/p/cows-show-how-to-ask-for-changehttps://www.honeyb3e.com/p/cows-show-how-to-ask-for-changeTue, 23 Jan 2024 14:46:28 GMTChildren who read Click, Clack, MOO: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin are treated to a tale about literate cows who write letters asking for electric blankets from Farmer Brown. With an old typewriter found in the barn, the cows explain that they get cold at night. The chickens get cold, too, and soon join the cows. Farmer Brown refuses them both, finding it ridiculous that the animals have demands. He has some of own. But when the cows stop milking and the chickens stop laying eggs, Farmer Brown doesn’t have much of a farm anymore. He gives the animals the blankets they ask for and takes away the typewriter in return. No more demands from those pesky farm animals, or so Farmer Brown thinks.

cover of click clack moo cows that type — Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin

We don’t know why Farmer Brown thought it unreasonable to protect his animals from the cold or why instead of asking for blankets the animals didn’t ask for central air. What we do know is that by communicating their needs intelligently, the animals got what they wanted while the farmer restored his supplies of milk and eggs. Typing cows aside, the story is familiar. Where else have we seen dissatisfied groups politely articulate their ideas and disagreements in a well-crafted letter? All throughout history.

Among the most famous of letters are the Epistles of Paul, which comprise parts of the Bible’s New Testament. In 2012, a young, 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai famously wrote a letter to oppose an organization’s stance on education inequality for girls. Another historical figure, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote a famous letter from a Birmingham jail petitioning supporters of civil rights to take swift action.

Click, Clack, MOO: Cows That Type is an amusing story that shows how letters can be used to facilitate change. This week’s activity sheet builds on the lesson that children learn by asking them to write their own letter to ask for something.

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HoneyB3E’s activity sheet this week helps children learn how to write a persuasive letter. Click below to download a copy for free.

HoneyB3E - Farmer Brown Sells Ice Cream

128KB ∙ PDF file

Persuasive letter writing activity

Get your own copy of Click, Clack, MOO: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin at this affiliate link or from your local library.

]]><![CDATA[Resolutions That Build Us Up, Not Tear Us Down]]>https://www.honeyb3e.com/p/resolutions-that-build-us-uphttps://www.honeyb3e.com/p/resolutions-that-build-us-upTue, 16 Jan 2024 19:41:49 GMTAs adults, we look at the New Year as an opportunity to make resolutions and think about the changes we’d like to see. But what if we did something different?

Resolutions can be a positive way to harness talents,

remodel our environments, or build upon existing strengths

What if, this year, we used our resolutions to think about the things we would like to enhance in our lives? When we look at them this way, resolutions can be a positive way to harness talents, remodel our environments, or build upon existing strengths. They can be means to empower our lives rather than set ups for failure with difficult goals.

The Loud Librarian by Jenna Beatrice

Thinking about the New Year in this way, reminds me of the book The Loud Librarian by Jenna Beatrice. It tells the story of a young girl who waits eagerly for a chance to be student librarian for the month. She is ecstatic when her name is called, but soon she loses just a bit of her enthusiasm when she realizes that she talks a little too loud. This news could have gotten her down completely. She could have made a resolution then to learn not to talk so loud. The story takes a different turn, however. The girl does not look to change who she is. Rather, she decides to use her talent for talking to host a read-aloud outside the library. Everyone loves it.

We can learn a lot from the girl. When we see we don’t quite fit the mold, instead of changing ourselves, we can think about finding a new mold. We can work on enhancing our greatest qualities, opening ourselves to opportunities that we would have ignored if we hadn’t tapped into our strengths. Let’s reframe how we view our resolutions and start the new year strong.

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HoneyB3E’s activity sheet for January 2024 helps children think about the talents they would like to improve. Download a copy for free below.

HoneyB3E - Cookies for Teddy

720KB ∙ PDF file

New year self-esteem writing activity

Get your own copy of The Loud Librarian by Jenna Beatrice at this affiliate link or from your local library.

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