When I attended the National Conference recently, I picked up a great new take on an old favourite from Jai Schelbach. Because it had a bumblebee flavour, I of course instantly fell in love with it!
The song can be found in Catch A Song (Kodaly teacher's bible) as "Witchety Jamboree" but in this new version the words are changed to Bumblebee Jamboree.
In the game, children mill around the classroom stepping to the beat. All sing along, stopping to listen for the colour that will be named by the teacher in line 2. They then have until the end of the song to find something in the classroom of that colour and touch it before time runs out!
As the students become increasingly familiar with the song, they can be given the opportunity to sing a colour as a solo (good beginning improvisation opportunity!) as well. The student who sings the solo can be chosen by means of a bumblebee puppet like this one.
You could also use the puppet as a visual clue, placing the bee on a colour without singing the name of the colour to encourage students' visual focus.
For my older students, this will be a great one to revisit when they are learning about tika-ti! I'm really looking forward to pulling it out again in a few years when my current preps are up to that stage.
For more great Bumblebee lesson ideas you can read my post on the delightful creatures here or take a look at my Bumblebee lesson pack on Teachers pay Teachers