| | Well, today is the kids' last day before Spring Break - they get a week plus an extra Friday (tomorrow). I haven't thought about what to do for Easter AT ALL. I can't even find our easter baskets and goodies which are packed away somewhere. I have a Halloween box and a couple of Christmas boxes... but where or where is that Easter box??  We don't even have a garage, so it's not like there are that many possibilities for things to go missing. It has to be in a closet somewhere...
Regardless, we've been having some springtime fun. On Tuesday we stopped in to visit our neighbor who runs an apiary. She sent out a flyer saying they are giving tours of their honey processing and bee hives all through April. We've been into her shop several times to buy honey and treats and candles and gifts, but had never seen behind the scenes.
Lilli had a freakout over the bees, even though there are signs everywhere saying "don't wave your arms," "don't shout," "don't run from the bees." She pretty much did all of those things. Understandable, since the instinct when one sees a bee coming at you is to do all of those things. Surprisingly, Miles trusted the beekeeper AND the bees. I say, suprisingly, because I would have guessed the opposite - that Lilli would be fearless and that Miles would not like the situation. But kids are full of surprises, aren't they?!
Miles was very interested and got right up close and personal with the "viewing hive" - a plexiglass covered box that allows you to see the bees at work. We searched for the queen, but couldn't find her. We did see the busy bees all at work - some with heavy yellow pollen-laden back legs, others filling the cells, others capping them. If you are patient, you can really see what they are working on. Miles was just *fascinated* at the geometry of the bees and how they create such symmetrical hexagonal cells, so as not to waste any space.
I was really proud of Miles for asking lots of questions, too - not only about the bees, but about the honey making process. Later that evening, he re-explained the ENTIRE process to dh - how they collect the leftover pollen (the majority of the pollen goes to feed the bee larvae, so humans only take the leftovers), separate out the honey from wax in a shaking machine, siphon the honey into big tanks, and then hand-fill and label each jar. Honey is amazing because it actually requires NO processing - I mean, you have to get it from the bees, but that's it. No cooking, no preserving, no flavoring. Thank you, Bees 
To follow up... I dug out our old "Kids Discover" subscription and found we did indeed have an issue on "Bees" - these are fabulous science unit magazines, by the way - pictures, activities, recipes, suggested readings. The publishers says for 6 and up, but for actually reading the text, I would say 8 or 9 and up. We also had the Magic School Bus one above. I wish our library had more of the MSB videos to go along with the books. Lilli likes looking at the books much more than the actual bees, which is fine ;)
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On Wednesday (yesterday) I went to Lilli's class and got an early gig as easter bunny - I was in charge of hiding all the eggs on the playground for the kindergarteners. They had a blast. Then I worked with them in small groups to record their weekly tadpole observations - each group (of 6 kids) examined the tadpoles and then had to write some sentence about them in their science journals. Something along the lines of "One tadpole has legs now" and the date. Bees and eggs and tadpoles, oh my. Must be spring.
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| | Posted 4/5/2007 8:15 AM - 97 Views - 6 eProps - 3 comments
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. DD screams "bee" "bug" and completely freaks out. Needless to say, we won't be getting a hive.
