Discover the amazing world of bees and their remarkable process of making honey. This simplified explanation uses easy-to-understand examples and step-by-step descriptions to engage 5th graders in the wonder of bee behavior and its importance for both the bees and the flowers they visit.
Why Bees Make Honey
Bees make honey because they need it to survive. Honey is their food, and they store it in their hives to eat during the winter when there aren't many flowers around. But making honey is not as simple as scooping nectar into a jar. Bees have to work very hard to make honey. Let me explain how they do it.
Gathering Nectar
First, bees fly from flower to flower and suck up nectar using their special long tongues. Nectar is like sugary water that flowers produce to attract bees, butterflies, and other insects. Bees store the nectar in a special stomach called a "honey stomach" and then fly back to their hive.
Turning Nectar into Honey
When the bees return to the hive, they pass the nectar to other worker bees through their mouths. These worker bees chew on the nectar and mix it with special enzymes from their mouths. Then they spread the mixture onto the honeycomb, which is like a bunch of small wax containers. The bees use their wings to fan the honeycomb until the nectar dries into honey.
Storing the Honey
Once the honey is made, the bees seal the honeycomb with beeswax to keep it fresh. They save the honey for when they need it, especially during the winter months. Humans also enjoy eating the delicious honey, so beekeepers sometimes collect the extra honey from beehives to share with people.
Helping Flowers Grow
When bees collect nectar from flowers, they also help the flowers make new seeds. This means bees and flowers help each other in a special way. Bees gather their food, and flowers get help spreading their pollen to make new plants grow. It's like a partnership between bees and flowers!