FOCUS: Honeybees are social insects, living in colonies of many thousands of bees. Working together in a highly organized way, honeybees accomplish remarkable feats of construction, navigation, decision-making, defense, and honey making – far beyond what an individual insect could do on its own. Many fascinating adaptations, both physical and behavioral, are important in the life and work of these busy, buzzy insects.
INTRODUCTION
Objective: To begin to explore and ask questions about bees.
Give each child a dead honeybee worker in a jar lid to examine using a hand lens. Ask children what they notice and wonder about the bees.
Materials: dried, dead honeybee workers in jar lids, one per child; magnifying lenses.
BEE ANATOMY
Objective: To examine closely and compare different types of honeybees and their cousins.
Ahead of time, contact a local beekeeper and obtain some dead bees, both workers and drones, if possible. These should be dried completely and stored in a shallow cardboard box. Before class, place bees in jar lids, one for each child. Continue reading The Buzz on Bees – Activities
Nearby Nature 