5 Bee-Related Activities You Can Do With Your Kids

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their role in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey.

They are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea and are presently considered a clade called Anthophila. 

There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees in seven to nine recognized families, though many of these families are monotypic and naturally isolated.

Bees are also fascinating to watch and can be a great source of entertainment for kids.

If you’re looking for ways to introduce your children to the world of bees, there are a few bee-related activities that they’re sure to enjoy.

These activities can help teach kids about the important role that bees play in the ecosystem and help children develop an appreciation for these important pollinators and the role they play in our ecosystem.

Read on below to find out what the buzz is all about!

Plan a Trip to Your Local Beekeeper

When learning about bees, going to your nearest local beekeeper and planning a family trip will surely lead to a highly educational experience.

Planning a trip can introduce your kids to a person whose job is to take care of bees daily.

They will also see how bees live, work, make hives, gather together during winter (if you plan on visiting during winter), make honey up close, and also see the queen bee!

They’ll also be able to see the Beekeeping Supplies and the system they use for taking care of bees.

Can’t coordinate a field trip to your local beekeepers? If you’re a teacher, try arranging a visit for your local beekeeper to come to your school instead.

They may be able to come up with fun activities that will introduce the kids to bees!

They may bring a beekeeper’s uniform, fresh honey for kids to try, old beehives, and fun facts about bees!

Plan a Bee Walk

The great thing about bees is you can find them almost anywhere that there are plants and flowers.

If the first section didn’t pan out, you could book a field trip to the local park or flower garden instead.

On this trip, your kids can view the bees in action while pollinating greenery and appreciate the flowers and plants.

You can also make an activity out of the field trip, such as naming the bugs, flowers, and bees they can see. 

You can also focus on bees on your walk. You can make the activity fun by pulling out interesting bee facts as you walk.

For example, bees will visit any flowers from 50 to 100 during a single collection trip to gather nectar. 

Another activity you can do in your bee walk is by making the kids count how many flowers the bees visited while you’re watching.

These activities are an excellent way to get a sneak peek of the busy lives of the bees. 

Go on a Honey Taste Test

A honey taste test for the whole group is a delicious way of teaching children about bees.

Gather different kinds of honey, and ensure you only buy enough for the whole class or family.

For this activity, you can get orange blossom, buckwheat, and clover honey.

Once they’ve tasted every kind you purchased, you can ask them to write down how each variant differs from the other on a piece of paper.

After all the different honey has been tested, you can now teach them about each variant of honey.

You can talk about what kind of nectar was used to make each honey and how different nectar can affect how it tastes. 

In addition to learning about bees, you can stimulate the children’s taste buds, introduce them to new flavours, and teach them how to differentiate tastes.

Teach the Bee Waggle Dance

Scientists around the world have been studying how bees communicate.

It just so happens that these little critters communicate with a “waggle dance”.

This dance is used when bees communicate with pollen, flowers, and other essential things that are important for their colony. 

Teaching kids the bee waggle dance is an excellent way to teach them about bees and to teach them about non-verbal communication. Your kids can get exercise, and they can also have fun doing it! 

Practice Drawing Bees

Bees might seem simple to draw at first. However, before teaching them the correct way of drawing a bee, ask your kids to draw their version of a bee first. Once they’re finished, teach the children how to draw a real bee.

They might get their minds blown when they discover bees have six legs and five eyes!

It’s also fun to compare everyone’s first drawings to the true-to-life versions of bees.

It’s a creative activity and an excellent way to teach children how these insects operate, their anatomy, and the different senses they use to survive and work. 

Final Thoughts

When learning about bees, there is always something new to learn about these beautiful insects.

The list is the perfect bee-related exercise for kids to try when planning a trip. Who knows? Maybe you can also learn something on your trip.