Honey bees are one of our favorite nature study topics ~ they are such amazing creatures! Their hives are incredibly efficient, with different jobs assigned to their workers, like:
- Nurse bees, who care for the young
- Guard bees that stand watch at the entrance of the hive
- The queen’s attendants, which bathe and feed the queen
- Construction workers, in charge of building the beeswax foundation for the hive cells
- Undertakers, who remove the dead bees
- Forager worker bees, who bring back pollen and nectar to feed the hive
Honey Bee Resources
We usually like to incorporate nature journaling into our weekly nature study, and for this one we used the honey bee unit from The Summer Journal (you can find it listed in my shop!)
It’s nice having a little bit extra to work with ~ like coloring pages and journaling/activity prompts ~ but feel free to just use a simple blank journal for your little ones to record the bees they find and observe.
SUMMER Journal
Hands-On Fun
Did you know you can recreate a simple bee hive using toilet paper rolls? Just cut each roll into strips, fold in half and then fold in half again to create a honeycomb shape. Glue or tape the toilet paper roll strips together to create a honeycomb! The boys pretended to be honey bees transferring the pollen from flowers into the honeycomb, using yellow pom poms and tweezers. So fun!
Also check out this fun Beekeeping Pretend Play Prompt.
Another fun activity we enjoyed was a honey tea time! We set out a beeswax candle, honey chamomile tea and this honey cake with honey-cream cheese frosting ~ it’s more dense and less sweet than a typical cake, but it was delicious! The best part was making the honeycomb pattern ~ guess how we did it? (two words: bubble wrap)
(Here’s the link to the honey cake if you’re interested)
Picture Books
There are a surprising amount of children’s books about honey bees, many of which are probably available at your local library, although Amazon has most of these for very reasonable prices. They are so wonderful you may want to add some to your bookshelf!
Honey Bee Videos for Kids
There are many fun YouTube videos you can watch with your kiddos to see a close-up of how the hive works. Here a couple we enjoyed watching:
Why Do Honeybees Love Hexagons?
Bees Hatching Time Lapse
Honey bees are one of our favorite wonders of nature to learn about ~ they truly are so amazing!
Learn more about the amazing honey bee in The Summer Journal, a guided nature journal and nature study curriculum with over 50 pages of illustrated field guides, journaling prompts, activities, coloring pages and more.
SUMMER Journal
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