World Bee Day for Kids

So why do we celebrate World Bee Day?

Did you know that honey bees pollinate about 80% of all the flowering plants, including over 130 kinds of fruits and vegetables? It means that every third or fourth bite of food that you take is made available to you thanks to the honey bees. Without bees our choices of fruits, vegetables, and other foods would be very scarce.

Because of the importance of bees, the UN General Assembly decided, based on the hard work of the Government of Slovenia, a small country in Europe, that May 20th will be a day of celebration of bees. Why May 20th? On this day, a Slovenian pioneer of beekeeping, Anton Jansa, was born in 1734. You may be surprised to learn that Slovenian’s motto is “Land of the Good Beekeepers” (even though it is only unofficial).

Did you know this about honey bees?

• They do not have a backbone; they are called invertebrates.
• They have jointed legs but they do not have kneecaps, which mean they do not have knees.
• They have two pairs of wings; the front ones are bigger than the rear ones.
• They flap their wings about 200 times in a second. 
• They communicate by dancing.
• They can tell flowers apart by using their 170 smell receptors.
• They have a compass built into their eyes.

Did you know this about bee hives?

• Honey bees live in colonies and remain loyal to the queen. But some other bees, for example, a carpenter bee, live by themselves.
• There are three types of bees in a beehive:

1. 1. Queen: Her job is to lays eggs. She can lay up to 2,500 eggs a day. She lives between 2-5 years.
   2. Worker bees: They help the queen, collect nectar, build the hive and clean it. They live about 5-6 weeks.
   3. Drones: They are male bees. Their job is to mate with the queen so that she could produce more bees. They live 6-7 weeks during spring and summer. When winter approaches, they are pushed out of the hive so that they would not eat the hive’s precious food during winter months.

• If the queen dies, the workers will choose one baby bee larva and feed it royal jelly (a special food). This food helps the larva to become a queen.
• They air-condition their beehive when it’s too hot by flapping their wings.

Did you know this about honey?

• Bees must gather nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey.
• One bee can pollinate about 5,000 flowers a day!
• Honey bees make honey for their food supply during winter. Thankfully, they make about 2-3 times more than they need so people can enjoy the rest.
• One bee makes only one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
• Honey was in the past used to treat burns, cuts, and wounds because it kills germs.

How can you celebrate World Bee Day?

There are so many things you can do to celebrate this special holiday. Following are a few of our suggestions:

1. Download our Busy Bee Activity Book and have fun coloring and solving bee puzzles (for younger children).
2. Watch The City of Bees by Moody Institute of Science. It is an old video but excellent (for school aged children).
3. Plant flowers to create a special farm for honey bees.
4. Visit a beekeeper to learn more about the honey bees.
5. Make a special breakfast that will include honey and other bee products.
6. Make Nuts in Honey and use them on your yoghurt or ice cream or give as a gift.

What other way would you celebrate World Bee Day? Please let us know in the comment section below. We would LOVE to hear from you!