Your kids will love this honey bees unit study and lapbook. Also, grab more unit studies on my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies,
Whether you want to learn about how honey bees are fascinating master pollinators, learn about the interesting social activities in the hive, learn about beeswax, or know what is honey, these honey bee activities and resources will be helpful.
Next, look at these honey bee resources:
Bees, wasps, and ants are part of one of the large group of insects, the order Hymenoptera mean “membrane-winged.”
It comes from the Greek words hymen (membrane) and pteron (wing.)
Books for Kids About Bees
Equally important when doing a unit study is to add living books and books to use as the main spine of your study.
8 Honey Bees Unit Study Resources & Books
Add some of these fun resources to your bees unit study or spring unit study.
One part science, one part cultural history, and countless parts fascination, Bees: A Honeyed History celebrates the important role that these intriguing insects have played in our ecosystem throughout the ages, and today.
Part history book, part handbook, and part cookbook, this illustrated tome covers every facet of the ancient hobby of beekeeping, from how to manage hives safely to harvesting one’s own honey, and ideas for how to use honey and beeswax. Detailed instructions for making candles, furniture polish, beauty products, and nearly 100 honey-themed recipes are included. Honeybees, which are critical in the pollination of popular US produce such as almonds, apples, and blueberries, are actually not native to the Americas. The honeybee that you see dancing from flower to flower in farms and gardens originated in Europe. The introduction of the honeybee began with European colonization of the Americas; before that, wild native bees, other insects, and some birds and mammals pollinated the native flowers of the continent. The honeybee’s ability to pollinate crops, produce honey, and be easily domesticated precipitated the growth in beekeeping all over America.
Follow the flight of a honey bee as she searches for nectar to sustain her hive and, along the way, pollinates flowers to produce seeds and fruits. Nature lovers and scientists-to-be are invited to explore the fascinating life of a honey bee.
Honey Bees are fascinating creatures which have been kept by humans for centuries. Now you can explore the life cycle of the honey bee without being stung. Watch as it grows from an egg, to a larva, and to a pupa before finally emerging as a mature adult.
Always a favorite when doing any kind of nature study, there are a few pages that cover different types of bees, common nectar sources, and bee anatomy. If you don't have this set already I cannot recommend it enough for nature studies.
One of the companion books to Nature Anatomy, the farm version covers all parts of farming, machinery, and crops but it also caught my eye because it even covers Beekeeping for aspiring beekeepers. It goes over bee terminology, parts of a bee, the parts of a hive, types of bees, flower parts, and beekeeper essentials. These books really put a lot of info into compact parts.
Why do beekeepers use smoke machines when collecting honey? Can a bee really sting only once? Why do bees "dance"? In concise, detailed text and abundant illustrations that range from the humorous to the scientific, Charles Micucci offers a wide-ranging and spirited introduction to the life cycle, social organization, and history of one of the world's most useful insects.
When the Magic School Bus turns into a beehive, Ms. Frizzle's class learns firsthand about how workers, drones, and the queen bees live together. Readers will be abuzz with knowledge as they discover how honeybees find food; make a comb, honey, and beeswax; and care for their young, all from the bee's perspective.
Honey Bees Unit Study
First, dive into learning about the life cycle of the honey bee.
After mating, the queen’s ovaries expand. She is fed nutrient-rich food from the worker bees. Within three or four days she begins laying eggs.
By day 3 or 4 eggs hatch. Workers begin feeding larvae. By day 8/9 workers seal cell with wax.
And then the larvae transforms into pupa and from days 16 to 24 queen, workers and drone emerges.
Honey Bee Life Cycles
Honey Bees Anatomy
Next, learn about honey bees anatomy.
Although each bee in the hive is formed a bit differently because of their occupation, the worker bee has one of the most fascinating jobs.
- Honey bee Anatomy and Identification
- Honey bee anatomy ask a biologist. Great visuals explaining the different parts of a honey bee.
- Honey: Different Flowers, Different Flavors
Chemistry and Science of Honey
In addition, learning about the chemistry and science of honey is a fascinating topic. Sure, it’s been said honey is bee puke so you’re kids will love knowing that.
Also, honey bees collect the sweet nectar from various flowers with their straw like tongues. Then the nectar mixes with enzymes in their stomach and is taken back to the beehive.
The bees fan the cells full of nectar which draws the moisture out and thickening the nectar to make honey.
And there are many different types of honey. The color and flavor is determined by the nectar.
More Honey Bees Unit Study Ideas
Honey Bees Pollination
However, the true worth of honey bees is their contribution to the environment through pollination.
Plants don’t just rely on bees, but need other pollinators like butterflies, hummingbirds, bats, and moths.
Moreover, for fertilization to occur, the pollen must get from the anther to the stigma.
Once on the stigma, the pollen grain sends a pollen tube down the style and to the ovary where the pollen’s genetic material combines with the egg’s genetic material.
What Happens Inside a Hive
A cloud of bees forming a swarm is spectacular sight. Swarming is the natural means for how new colonies are formed. Beekeepers try to control swarming since it disrupts the hive. When the colony gets to a certain size, the current queen leaves with thousands of workers and creates a new nest elsewhere.
Language Art Ideas for Studying Honey Bees
Too, some of our sayings or idioms comes from bees. How fun. Your student can write some of them down and learn their meaning.
Look at a few expressions or idioms we get from bees.
- queen bee – Queen bee refers to a dominant female.
- busy as a bee – Busy as a bee means we’re working hard.
- bees knees – The bees knees means something or someone who is admired or great and all things are sweet and good.
- bee in your bonnet – You wouldn’t want a bee trapped in your hat. So bee in your bonnet would mean something or someone that is aggravating you.
- the birds and the bees – This is a gracious way of saying you’re going to be talking about how babies are made or sex.
- spelling or quilting bee – We use it today to mean children who come together to compete in spelling, but it’s been thought that it derived from the social interaction in a beehive. Hence, folks gather for social bees of different kinds whether it’s sewing or quilting.
Vocabulary words for a honey bee unit study.
Additionally, look at these vocabulary words.
- pollen – powder-like material produced by the anthers of flowering plants
- apiarist – Beekeeper.
- apiary – A bee yard.
- hive – The structure in which bees live and are kept.
- honeycomb – A sheet of hexagonal wax cells made by honey bees to store honey, pollen, and brood.
- drone – The male honey bee.
- swarming – The natural process of how new colonies are formed.
- worker bee – A female bee. The majority of the honey bees are worker bees. They do all the work in the colony except for laying fertile eggs.
- pollinator – an animal that moves pollen from the anther to the stigma of a plant
- colony – The colony is the living unit of tens of thousands of workers, drones, and a queen.
- brood – Eggs, larvae, and pupae.
- cell – the hexagonal comb built by honeybees.
- royal jelly – It is a honey bee secretion that is used in the nutrition of larvae, as well as adult queens.
- virgin queen – A queen bee who has not mated.
- scout bees – Bees who look for new nesting areas in preparation for a swarm and are normally familiar with the area.
Free Books
Hear a Librivox recording of The Children’s Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlinck.
The Behavior of the Honey Bee in Pollen Collection by Dana Brackenridge Casteel
Honey Bee Teachers Guides & Activity Guides
Finally, you’ll love a roundup of some fantastic honey bee teaching guides.
Honey Bee Lapbook
You can purchase my honey bee lapbook below, but look at how I created it.
Too, the resource I used is The Beekeeper’s Bible.
I used this because it’s the book I had. It was very thorough in explaining about honey bees. This lapbook is focused on honey bees, and not so much beekeeping.
Awesome features of my honey bees lapbooks:
- You are paying for the printables, the lapbook.
- My lapbooks are created for multiple ages and geared toward older children unless I specifically state that it’ is’ for a certain age.
- Most of the minibooks have facts which accompany the minibook and a lot of the minibook are offered two ways. One way where your child uses the facts provided and another way where your child can add his own research and not use the inside pages.
- You do not need to use The Beekeeper’s Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses. It’s the book I had and the one we liked.
- You can use any reference materials, books, or online resources to complete the lapbook.
- I don’t provide links in the lapbooks for filling out the information. This keeps my prices low for my products, but I do try to provide free links on my site as I can.
- Because I do use a combination of cursive or script and print, I aim my lapbooks toward upper elementary up to high school.
- Another way which I aim my lapbooks toward older children is that I avoid using baby-ish or goofy looking clip art. I spend many hours culling through images and purchasing ones that are correct and highest quality.
- Because I have been a working homeschool mom for more of my journey than not, I need flexibility for using lapbooks. Proving a few facts from the main resource I use is one way I have of saving you time and giving you flexibility in how to use the minibooks.
- Too, some of your kids may be older and you want them to do more research and some of your kids may be reluctant writers so you may want to mix and match pre-filled minibooks with blank minibooks. Flexibility is the key to my lapbooks.
Other nature unit studies you’ll love.
- Above & Below: Pond Unit Study, Hands-on Ideas, & Lapbook.
- Super Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook.
- Foraging and Feasting Nature Unit Study and Lapbook.
- Wildflowers Unit Study & Lapbook.
- From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook.
- Colorful Winter Bird: Northern Cardinal Lapbook & Unit Study.
I love this unit study on honey bees! So thorough and complete. Thank you for making this easy!!
You’re welcome Jen. Thanks for being here!!