Honey and Bees Activities for Kids

September is celebrated as the National Honey month in the United States. Apparently, the month of September marks the end of the honey collection season and hence the significance. We even have a National Honey Board and today is the first time I got to know about it!
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Made me wonder – honey is messy, gooey and sweet – the ideal substance kids would (literally) love to wallow in. Why not carry out some simple DIY activities with honey and teach them a couple of things while indulging in it? Here goes.

Honey in the Kitchen

“Honey” by stevepb is licensed under CC by 2.0​

My kids (and I’m sure a majority of all kids everywhere) absolutely adore smoothies. Breakfast for them has to have a smoothie in tow and I very happily oblige, since it is nothing but pure milk along with the goodness of fruit. Recently, I’ve started asking my daughter to make her own smoothie by measuring out its ingredients and then blending them all together. The son is still too young to do so but he watches, perched up on a stool. We have a measuring glass which my daughter uses to measure out the yogurt and fruit juice (which I squeeze beforehand) before adding them to the blender with the fruit pieces. She now knows all about milliliters (ml) and liters, thanks to the smoothie making process! Yesterday I asked my younger one to measure out a little honey in the glass (up to a certain ml level) and top up the smoothie with it. He was thrilled to be ‘grown-up enough’ to be measuring out things!

We’re talking about honey here for the simple reason that it’s National Honey month. The underlying idea is to get your kids to measure out liquids and/or solids and learn about the basic units of measurement through a hands-on activity, rather than just through written worksheets and the like.
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Beehive Craft

“Scissors” by stux is licensed under CC by 2.0

Who doesn’t love to pop bubble wrap? It’s actually pretty addictive (and I’m a victim). But it can come to other uses too, such as crafting up a realistic looking beehive, for one. The other day I was reading about an activity where you can simply cut out a wrap in the rough shape of a hive to begin with. Then ask your kids to paint on the bubble side up with brown/orange/mustard hues. Next, press on the painted side onto thick chart paper such that it leaves an imprint. Allow it to dry for a while. Your child could then draw cheerful little honeybees prancing around the hives and it’ll look so real!

Another simple way is to use a cardboard egg tray for the same. Carefully cut out the base, leaving the partitions intact. Ask your kids to paint it a bright orange, stick it onto thick construction paper and add bees here and there (your child could either draw them or stick them on). Voila – the beehive is ready! Here are some more interesting craft activities for kids, to bring out their (and your) artsy side.

And just before I wrap up this post, here’s some interesting advice from the honeybee itself:

Create a buzz
Sip life’s sweet moments
Mind your own beeswax
Work together
Always find your way home
Stick close to your honey
Bee yourself!