Core Skills Analysis
Applied Design Skills Technology
Lily used applied design skills and technology by creating a maze for the bee and planning a clear path for it to follow. She showed problem-solving as she thought about how to make the maze work and adjusted the design so the bee could get through. By using a spoon of honey as an incentive, Lily explored how design can guide behavior and make an activity more effective. This activity helped Lily practice careful planning, cause-and-effect thinking, and simple engineering-style design in a hands-on way.
Tips
To extend Lily’s learning, she could try redesigning the maze with a few different path options and compare which one is easiest for the bee to follow. She could also draw her maze on paper first, then build it again to practice planning before making. A fun next step would be to test different incentives, such as placing the honey in new spots, and observe how the bee responds. Finally, she could talk about what made her maze successful and what she would change to make it even better next time.
Book Recommendations
- The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle: A classic picture book about a spider building its web, connecting naturally to planning, design, and purposeful creation.
- Bee & Me by Elle J. McGuinness: A gentle story that celebrates bees and invites children to think about how living things move and interact with their environment.
- A Bee Sees Flowers by Kallie George: An engaging nonfiction-style picture book that helps young children learn more about bees and their world.
Try This Next
- Draw-and-build worksheet: sketch Lily’s bee maze first, then label the path, goal, and honey bait.
- Think-and-tell prompt: What made the maze easy or hard for the bee to get through?