www.brightlittleowl.

com bees

bumble bee long horn bee

large carpenter bee leaf cutter bee

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honey bee carder bee

mining bee sweat bee

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bumble bee long horn bee

large carpenter bee leaf cutter bee

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honey bee carder bee

mining bee sweat bee

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Instructions to make the cards

1. Print out all pages. You can print on regular paper or cardstock. I usually print out on 67-
pound Vellum Bristol cardstock, but you can use a little thicker cardstock, if it works with your
printer.

2. Cut on the thin black lines. I highly recommend using a paper cutter to get a clean straight
edge and to measure as you cut for size consistency, but you can also use scissors.

On pages 1 and 2, these are the control cards that have the picture and label. The size of these
cards is 3.5” wide by 4.5” tall. You will have 8 of these control cards:

bumble bee, long horn bee, large carpenter bee, leaf cutter bee, honey bee, carder bee, mining
bee, sweat bee

On pages 3 and 4, these are the picture-only cards and the label-only cards. The size of the
picture-only cards is 3.5” x 3.5” squares. The size of the label-only cards is 3.5” wide by 1” tall.
You will have 8 picture-only cards and 8 label-only cards.

3. After you have cut all the cards out, you can use the cards as-is with no lamination. It’s up
to you. You can glue them with a glue stick on thicker cardstock to mount them if you want
them to be sturdier. Measure and cut the thicker cardstock to be a half inch bigger than the
cards. So, for the control cards would be mounted on 4” x 5” thicker cardstock.

You can also laminate the cards if you prefer. Laminating is a good idea if you’re using the cards
for a classroom, for multiple children, if they will be used for an extended period of time, you
plan on using them again in the future, and/or if you want to protect them from getting
damaged from water, paint, dirt, or getting bent or wrinkled.

I find that for homeschooling use, it’s not always necessary to laminate the cards; it saves the
cost and time of laminating and cutting them again, and you can recycle them in the paper bin
when you’re finished with them. You can store the cards in a folder or felt pouch to keep them
from getting bent.

4. If you decide to laminate the cards, there are different options. In my experience in the
Montessori classroom, the best method for long-lasting cards is below. This is what I do:

Get a Scotch Thermal Laminator and Scotch 3 mil or 5 mil thermal laminating pouches. Cut the
cards first (step 2, above), glue them on to thicker card stock with glue stick. Pre-cut the thicker
cardstock to be a half inch larger than the cards, to make them look like they are mounted, and
professional. Line up the mounted cards a little separated in the laminate pouch so there is
about a half inch of laminate between the cards. Carefully feed the pouch through the
laminator, making sure the cards don’t shift. Let cool. Cut the laminated cards out with regular
scissors. Be sure to leave about a quarter inch of laminate around the cards so they don’t peel
and come apart.

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Photo Credits:

"Bumble Bee" by MattX27

"Long-horned bee (Melissodes sp.) on Bahia Grass"
"Large carpenter bee (The Institute for nature study, Tokyo, Japan)" by t-mizo
"Leafcutter Bee (Megachile sp.)" by bob in swamp
"Honey Bee & Gray Nickerbean" by bob in swamp
"Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium manicatum), Le Collet-de-Dèze, Lozère, France" by Frank.Vassen
"Mining bee" by Tom Bech
"Sweat bee on coral vine flower" by jim_mcculloch