Life skills provide your honeybee with essential tools for personal, social, and academic growth. The development of life skills helps your honeybee communicate, self-regulate, and problem solve. When practicing these skills, honeybees will begin to self-direct and take appropriate action in situations where adults may not be around to offer assistance or intervene. Your honeybee will likely take on challenges despite the probability of failure, thus developing a sense of resilience and grit. During early childhood education, it is crucial that life skills and social-emotional learning (SEL) hold equivalent importance to academic content.
In this activity, your honeybee will set the table for a family meal! The goal is to understand the proper placement of dishes and silverware on a table placemat. Yes, there are printable placemats that serve as a cheat sheet for table setting. However, we want our honeybees to learn by doing. This hands-on approach focuses on task initiation, fine-motor skills, and tactile learning. In addition, your honeybee will tangibly engage with this life skill, while creating a learning material that they can be proud of.
What you’ll need:
• Large plain paper
• Construction paper
• Crayons, colored pencils, markers, or paint
• Dishes and silverware
• Scissors
• Glue
• Pencil
• Black marker
Ready to relax and have a meal? Put your honeybee’s service to the test! Let’s get busy!
1. Have dish, fork, spoon, butter knife, plate, cup, and napkin readily available for activity
2. Place plate in the center of construction paper. Trace with pencil, then carefully cut. Repeat with all utensils, cup, and napkin.
3. Place the plate cut-out on the center of the large plain paper, then paste
4. Place fork cut-out to the left of the plate cut-out, then paste
5. Place knife cut-out to the right of the plate cut-out, then paste
6. Place spoon cut-out to the right of the knife cut-out, then paste
7. Place napkin cut-out to the left of the fork cut-out, then paste
8. Place cup cut-out diagonally above paper plate cut-out (right side), then paste
9. Label each cut-out then decorate placemat. Be sure to label your placemat (ex. “Mrs. Botto’s Placemat”)
10. Repeat steps to create multiple placemats for other family members
11. Put placemats on the table at your own desired seating arrangement
12. Place dishes and silverware on labeled placemats
Be sure to have conversations about utensils and their use. Encourage questions and comments about setting the table. Remember, every honeybee is different. Some utensils may be difficult to trace and cut.
While creating placemat and enjoying your meal, encourage conversation about table manners. Use the proper language with your honeybee; they are smarter than you think!
Include the basics:
• Come to the table with washed hands and a clean face
• Napkins on your lap during the meal
• Do not begin until everyone is served or given permission by the host
• Thank your host or whoever prepared your meal
• Stay seated and with proper posture
• Elbows off the table!
• Chew with your mouth closed
• Do not talk with your mouth full of food
• Do not make unkind comments about the food, even if you don’t like it
• Remember respectful words – “please” and “thank you”
• Do not reach for food. Ask politely to be passed your desired dish
• Avoid conversation about private matters, “bathroom talk”
• Avoid bodily noises. If you burp, simply say “excuse me”
• Ask to be excused at the end of your meal
• Offer to clean up after the meal
Questions? Comments? Compliments? Leave them BEElow! 🐝✨🍯
The Busy B 