Bees impact our lives in so many useful ways, from pollinating our flowers and crops to producing delicious honey. Another reason we love bees? They are adorable! (See Exhibits A, B and C.)
photos by USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
Honeybees are generally nonaggressive and while allergy sufferers need to beware, kids should be taught to value, not fear, these amazing creatures. Luckily, bees have gotten a ton of positive press lately, and parents can do their part to reinforce their “good gal” image. (The vast majority of bees seen outside the hive are indeed female.)
The following activities are great conversation starters about the importance of bees.
New refrigerator art! This paper plate bee craft will keep your child busy as a bee while developing fine-motor skills such as tracing and cutting.
Bees leave their “footprint” on the world by pollinating our food and flowers. Without them, we’d go hungry! Start a great conversation with your child about how important bees are to us, while they have fun making their own bee footprint (with a ladybug companion!).
Sweet feet: bee footprint keepsake
Do you have a child who loves to perform? Future Broadway star? Help them with these funny bee puppets and sit back and watch the show!
Make your own bee-list actors!
While not anatomically correct (no stinger!), these flat-bottom bees made from TP rolls can perch just about anywhere when the kids are done making them.
Please don’t squeeze the TP bees!
Do you have a child learning to read or who already loves to get lost in the pages of a book? This simple craft will save their places in their worlds of words.
For your little bookworm: A bee bookmark
These bees made out of wooden clothes pegs and pipe cleaners come together in all of five or ten minutes, with no gluey mess. It’s a great project to keep little hands occupied while you’re preparing dinner, and they can be used to hold place cards at the table!
