Bees...A Preschool Study

As we continued our insect study we moved into a week long study of bees.

GEMS: Buzzing a Hive

We transformed our Science area to a Bee focus. Items included:
bee poster cards, large bees poster, hive frames, books, honey,
beekeeper hat, bees for observation, beeswax, honeycomb,
magnifying glass, and bee vision viewer.

Beekeeper frames: (from top to bottom)
empty frame, frame with pollen and honey,
frame with honey and capped areas.

Beekeeper outfit: coveralls, gloves, hat.

We always try to start a unit with the kiddos sharing what they think to be
true about the new theme. We don't correct their statements if they aren't correct.
They will realize the truth as we study the topic, then we can adjust the board.

Each kiddo created a bee. This wasn't an art project, but
a Science one as we discussed the actual body parts and
talked about where each part would be on a real bee.

Observing the bees. The GEMS kit included a container of deceased bees.
We still placed them in containers so the children would be safe and not
scared of holding them. 

The focus here was on showing the kiddos how the bees  use the pollen sacs
on their legs to collect pollen from the flowers. 

Each kiddo took their own bee (cotton ball) and rubbed it on the pollen to
see how it transferred from the flower to the bee. **Lilies are toxic. As soon
as the children completed this activity, we had them wash their hands.

I discovered this concept through Play at Home Mom's blog and adapted
it to work in our program. Please check out their post. We put yellow colored
water in a vase with silk flowers. The children used a turkey baster (their proboscis)
to collect the water (nectar) from the flowers. 

They then transported it across the playground and released it into the
cells of the hive.

These are our filled cells.

We talked about how the bees hang together and stretch
their bodies in order to release the beeswax from their
bodies to create new cells.

Of course, then we had to try it with our bodies to understand how
they would feel when stretching and connected to the other bees.

I saw the concept of creating a beehive with bee at Mama to 4 Blessings and
then adapted the concept to work with our preschoolers. The kiddos rolled
yellow paint onto bubble wrap that was taped to the table. 

After rubbing the paint onto the bubble wrap, they pressed their paper on it
to make a print that looked a lot like the honey cells.

They then stamped bees onto the hive. 

We tasted bee pollen that had been processed by bees. 

We tried honey from local beekeepers. Thanks to the
Bester family.

We culminated our study with the creation of a beehive.
We used cardboard egg cartons and bulletin board paper for
the hive. We then added yellow translucent wadded up paper for the
honey and capped the cells with wax paper. We added large yellow
pompoms for the pollen in the hive. We displayed our queen bee,
all the children's created bees, and even connected three of them like
they do when they want to extract the wax from their bodies to make more
cells or to cap off cells. So much fun!! 

Some friends were inspired to don bee apparel.

We did this study in one week, but determined that next time we need to set aside a two week period to do it justice. There was just so much valuable information in the guide and not enough time to cover it all.

I believe the kids developed a new appreciation for bees and the good that they do.