Honey Bees for a day - Questions answered

My girls are obsessed with all things bugs/insects lately.  My oldest is always asking a million questions a day.

Does that bee sting?

How come some bees sting and some don't?

Is that a honey bee?

How do bees make honey?

Why do they like flowers?

To be honest I can't answer half her questions!  

We first started exploring this by visiting the local library. We checked out 3-4 books on bees/wasps.  We have been reading these books for several weeks before I set up this invitation.  My oldest gave me the inspiration when she said: 

"I wish I could be a honey bee for a day."

The invitation

Flowers in water

Honey

Turkey Basters

Egg Carton

Bee costumes

I left this completely up to my girls to explore any way they wanted to.  

They started first by putting their nest (egg carton) "up high on the art table so no one would step on it"

My 27 Month old did not want to wear her wings and that is OK!  

Sucking up the nectar.  

My 27 Month old knew that the bees sucked it up from their mouth so she always put the back end of the baster up to her mouth.  

My oldest got a little frustrated with her baster so she asked for something else.  I gave her a medicine dropper.  

Putting the "nectar" into the "honeycomb."

My 27 Month old lost interest after a couple trips back and forth.  

My oldest declared me a "worker bee" and said "you need to squirt in some honey... but only where the nectar is, Mommy"  

Doing her "busy bee dance" to show all the other bees where the flower patch is.  

Collecting more nectar.  

Counting how many she has left to fill.  

Fanning the honey with her wings

I did NOT have wax paper out.  She asked for this to seal her honeycomb when it was done.  I thought that was a great association.  :-)  

My 27 Month old joined back in when she heard there was going to be honey tasting going on.  

Scrapping her honeycombs to put into jars.  

"Look at all this honey we made!"

And of course the taste test! 

RL 

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