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Math should be fun, especially for young children, right? Absolutely! Math in early childhood Montessori focuses on preparing the mathematical mind for problem-solving, logical and critical thinking.
Young children are exposed to shapes, patterns, and spatial relationships that lend to more complex mathematical concepts later in life. This Montessori honeybee Math Activity is an original work I created during my Montessori training.
For my Montessori training, we have to prepare and execute a unit in the classroom. I chose honeybees because honeybees are extraordinary little creatures and all children should learn of their purpose. Below is one of my original math materials with a honeybee theme. Included are a few free printables. Enjoy!
Related Read: Learn about Parts of the Honey Bee with this Free Printable
Montessori Honeybee Math Activity
Purpose: To practice addition and subtraction skills with real objects
Age: 4+
Montessori Math Activity Materials:
- Tray
- Piece of felt to line the tray
- Beehive outlines
- Addition, Subtraction, and Equals Symbols
- Yellow and Black Six-Sided Dice
- Minis Honeybees
- Bowl for Mini Honeybees
- Pencil
- Addition & Subtraction Print Outs for Take-Home Booklets
- Colored pencils for coloring honeybees on the printout (optional)
Prerequisites: Bead Stair Addition and Subtraction

Montessori Math Activity Presentation:
- Tell the child: “Remember when you worked with the short bead stair to do addition and subtraction? Today you are going to do addition and subtraction with honeybees.”
- Take the tray to a work table
- Identify the objects on the tray: “These are mini honeybees. These pieces represent honeycomb. Honeycomb has six sides and is called a hexagon. These are dice. Each die has six sides.”
- “We’ll start with addition,” grabbing an addition printout.
- “Roll the dice. You will see two numbers.” Demonstrate and say: “We rolled the numbers 2 and 4. Choose the bigger number (“4”) and write it in the hexagon on the left. Then, choose the smaller number (“2”) and write it in the middle hexagon. You will write the total in the hexagon on the right.”
- “Can you count 2 mini honeybees place them in the middle beehive? Do the same for 4 but place the mini honeybees in the left or first beehive.”
- “The next step we count the total number of honeybees by first taking the two in the left most hexagon, adding them to the four in the next hexagon and moving the total number of honeybees, in this case, six, to the result place after the equals sign.”
- “Write ‘6’ on the print out.”
- Offer the child a turn.

Control of Error:
- Teacher
- Control Answer Sheets
Points of Interest:
- Honeybees and Honeycomb
- Rolling Dice
- Writing Numbers
Direct Aims:
- Addition and Subtraction
- One to One Correspondence
Variations:
- Prepare equations ahead of time
- Use dice with more than six sides
- Use dice with the option to roll either addition or subtraction
- Partner Work
Check out additional Montessori posts on Honeybees:
- Honey Bee Montessori Work
- Learning about Pollination
- Life Cycle of a Honey Bee {Story Sequence Cards}
- Bee Activity for Kids with Book
- Preschool Math – Honeybee Graphing Activity
- Montessori Math Activity with Honeybees
Have fun!
Marnie