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Happy Spring! Springtime in the music room means all the fun Spring songs– of which I have a lot– and one of my favorite Spring folk songs is the chant Bee Bee Bumblebee. I use this chant to teach rhythm with quarter and eighth notes, as well as steady beat, and I’ve also used it to teach tempo and do some fun STEAM integrated activities too.
There’s lots of options, so let’s learn Bee Bee Bumblebee!
This lesson can be done with very few materials (or even none!), but if you want to make it easier, you can get the lesson pack from my TPT shop. This lesson pack comes with slides, printables, and a fun bee vocalization activity. They will help you teach the chant, teach the game, and teach about rhythm.
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Materials for Bee Bee Bumblebee
This lesson can be done with no materials, but I like to use my bee fingerpuppet along with it. I got mine off of Amazon, and sometimes you can find them at Barnes and Noble or on West Music.
His name is Rimsky, in case you were wondering.
The other thing that I’m using in my lesson is the lesson pack on my TPT shop. You don’t need it in order to do the lesson, but it provides slides, printables, a lesson plan, and more to help make the lesson really easy to implement.
Bee Bee Bumblebee Chant
Bee Bee Bumblebee Game
This game is an elimination game, so one student taps each of the other students on the back while they say the chant. The last person is tapped is supposed to be out, but I like to let them be the new “beekeeper”.
The beekeeper is the student who gets to take Rimsky around the circle.
To make it more fun (and help out with my STEAM school), I tell the students when we get into a circle that they are all flowers in the garden. The bee keeper takes Rimsky to each “flower” so that he can pollinate them. This gives me an easy way to talk about pollination, which is my 2nd grader’s PBL that they focus on all year.
Adding tempo
I often use this game with my second graders, because I teach at a STEAM school. Each grade level has a PBL that they work on all year, and 2nd grade is pollinators! Because of that, we end up doing this chant and game in my STEAM lessons.
To make it more fun for my second graders, we change the tempo. We learn the words presto, largo, and andante. I count them off in one of the times, and they have to use that tempo to play the game. After, we will talk about which tempo it was.
This is a simple way to take something that might be too little-kiddish and make it work for older students.
Teaching Rhythm
I often use this chant to talk about beat and rhythm. We start by tapping the beat, and then “the way the words go”. This is the rhythm.
Then we will use icons to see the rhythm– a bee for ta and two honey pots for titi. We will tap the rhythm on the screen, clap the rhythm, and more. Plus, we will use “bee” and “flower” to create different rhythms to play.
Eventually, I’ll share what the rhythms really look like, and we can replace the icons with the rhythms.
Extension activities for Bee Bee Bumblebee
So… you’ve taught this lesson.
Now what?
Here’s a few extension activities that go along with this song:
Flight of the Bumblebee
We were all thinking it, so let’s get it out of the way: You can use Flight of the Bumblebee along with this chant!
I like to use the piece as an introduction before I introduce the chant.
I have students use their hands, a scarf, or even an egg shaker, to move along with the music. Afterwards, we talk about what it sounds like and how it sounds like a bumblebee.
Berlioz the Bear
The book Berlioz the Bear works with Bee Bee Bumblebee songs, because in it, Berlioz has a bee stuck in his upright bass! The animals are trying to get to their gig, and all the while, he’s trying to figure out what is wrong with his instrument that keeps buzzing.
At the end, they do an encore, and the piece they play is Flight of the Bumblebee. It’s one of my favorite books to use with the kiddos.
It’s super cute, and the illustrations are gorgeous!
Click here to get it off of Amazon.
Buzz Buzz Buzz
This is a silly song by Laurie Berkner, but my kids love it. I’ve used it at two schools and summer camp, and it’s always a hit.
We usually play the egg shakers along with it.
We typically keep the beat on the verses, play the rhythm on the chorus, with some extras thrown in.
Here’s a video of the routine I use:
2 4 6 8 Meet Me at the Garden Gate
Another fun quarter and eighth note chant for little kids is 2 4 6 8 Meet Me at the Garden Gate! This one is also perfect for springtime because it’s about the garden.
This one has a clapping game where students tap their legs, then their partner’s hands.
I like to use that first, then make it harder like this: Line 1: Pat legs, the partner’s hands to the beat
- Line 2: Clap the rhythm
- Line 3: Walk in circle around partner
- Line 4: Pat legs, the partner’s hands to the beat
Check out the full lesson here!
There you go: Bee Bee Bumblebee! This simple chant is perfect for kindergarten and first grade music, and they loooove it. Simple, yes, fun? Also yes.
If you want to make it really easy, you can get the lesson pack here.
And if you need more ideas, here’s a bunch of Spring music lessons for all age groups! It includes songs, games, movement, Vivaldi, and more! Read or watch here!
Happy teaching!
Becca
