honey bees & a hike

This morning, we had a special guest at homeschool co-op. A local beekeeper came and talked to the kids about bees. It was a wonderful presentation. I read a sweet book to the kids called _Are You a Bee?_, and we did a bee finger play while waiting for the presentation to begin. The kids told a few short bee stories, and Willow wanted to say the bee rhyme from Winnie-the-Pooh: "Isn't it so funny how a bee makes honey? Buzz, buzz, buzz. I wonder how he does?!"

The beekeeper brought lots of neat things for the kids to look at including one of her own bee boxes and a super. She also brought honeycomb, jars of honey, beeswax candles, beeswax lip balm, beeswax hand cream (which the children all got to try!), and the smoker that she uses to sedate her bees for honey-gathering. She taught them some simple, interesting bee facts and led them in some fun activities. They each got to stand up and represent different bees in the hive, and she taught them the "bee dance". It was really fascinating. She inspired me to want to keep bees!


After a round of gratitude for the bee lady, we ate lunch and went on a nature hike. We walked a new trail this week. It was a nice change. There was faery's breath (bluets) in bloom and a nice stream for exploring. There were also a few may apples blooming, and we heard a blue jay imitating a red-tailed hawk. I want to explore the trail again as it gets warmer because there will be more wildflowers in bloom soon.