Flight of the Bumblebee | Free Music Lesson Plan (Rimsky-Korsakov)

Big Idea

Get your students buzzing with excitement! This free, no-prep music lesson plan is the perfect way to help your young musicians engage active listening skills while they participate in an exciting "beehive" game.

Grade Level: K-3
Activity: Active Listening Game
Skill: Identifying Tempo and Instrumental Timbre

Students will demonstrate active listening skills by responding to musical cues and describing the tempo and instrumentation of the piece.

This lesson is designed to fulfill the 2014 National Standard for Music:
Demonstrate and explain how the expressive qualities (such as dynamics and tempo) and primary musical elements of music (such as form) are used in performers’ decisions to convey expressive intent. (Responding - MU:Re9.1.3a)

Recording of Flight of the Bumblebee

Music Lesson Plan

This is a great closing activity for a unit on Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. It is best suited for students in grades K-3.

Step 1
Tell students, "Today we are going to listen to a famous and fast piece of music called Flight of the Bumblebee. It was written by a Russian composer named Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov."

Step 2
Ask half of the class to stand in a circle facing into the center. This group will be the "hive." The remaining students will be the "bumblebees."

Step 3
Explain the rules: "When the music starts, the bumblebees will run in and out of the hive. When the music stops, the hive members will quickly join hands to trap the bumblebees inside!"

Step 4
Start the recording. When you pause the music, the hive "closes." Any trapped bumblebees now become part of the hive circle. Repeat the process until only one bumblebee remains. This student is the winner!

Step 5
During breaks in the game, ask the students about what they are hearing. Use these questions to guide them:

How would you describe the tempo (speed) of this music?
What instruments do you hear playing the fast notes?
Why does the music sound like bumblebees?

Step 6
Perform the activity again, switching roles so everyone has a chance to be a bumblebee.