Painted Bee Rocks

 

My daughter (who just turned 2) is super afraid of bees. Big dogs, horses, etc. are no problem. But if she sees something flying around outside she "fweaks out" as her older brother puts it. She's never been stung but for some reason is so afraid and it's sad when she gets so scared.

I had some smooth stones that I wanted to use to make these ladybugs from Martha Stewart, but I decided to make bees instead. I was hoping that maybe having some cute little bees to play with would help her.

I just spray painted the rocks yellow, used a black Sharpie to draw the bee, then used an oil-based white Sharpie to fill in the wings.

They were a hit...she loves them.

So far we've played "where's the bee?" (put both hands in a fist and have her guess which hand has the bee) and "bee hide and seek" (hide the bee in the room and then let her find it). We'll see if over time it makes things easier when she sees bees in real life.