Homeschool Happenings- Busy as a Bee

We had alot of fun with our Bee study this week. So I thought I would share some pictures of our various activities.

This picture is of the beeswax candles that the boys and I made. I'm actually thinking about getting some more wax to make some seasonal candles. I think they might make a unique gift. The dotted one is the Professor's, the middle one mine, and the rocket ship (cool, huh?) is the Artist's..of course.

I should say that while this was fun, it was a little painstaking. The beeswax was a little fragile (sometimes it broke easily) and because you don't use adhesive of any kind, you have to mold it with light pressure. So you might not want to do it with younger kids, unless you have LOTS of patience. I promised the princess I'll do one with her later. She seemed okay with that...of course, it probably helped that I let her make cookies instead;)

We also made these cute little edible Honeybees. I've included the recipe below if you would like to make them yourself. I couldn't resist making this fresh flower collage.

~Honeybee snacks~

1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1 Tbsp Honey
1/3 c nonfat dry milk
2 Tbsp toasted wheat germ
2 Tbsp sesame seeds (optional)
sliced almonds

Mix all ingredients together. IF you use natural peanut butter (as I did) you may need to add additional dry milk because of the natural oils. You also may need to chill in-between forming and decorating. I put mine in the freezer to harden when completed. Or you might just want to use the regular supermarket kind:)

For the bee body, shape 1 teaspoonful of dough into an oval. Place it on a tray lined with wax paper. Dip a toothpick into the cocoa powder and press it gently across the top of the bee body to make the stripes. Stick sliced almonds into the sides for wings. Chill for about 30 minutes.

Here is a link to the CC Pollen beehive tour. It was quite interesting, detailing the various positions and duties within the bee community. I read it to my kids, so I could skip over a few of the details...you'll see what I mean.

A little BEE trivia: OF course, most of us learned about bees during our school years. But I did manage to come across a few bits and pieces of information I didn't know before. Here goes..

There are 100,000 different species of Bees.

Mason Bees use their own saliva to cement small pieces of stone together.

Carder Bees fill empty snail shells with pieces of cotton and wool.

Carpenter Bees tunnel through wood.

Bees have their own undertakers; their job is to go throughout the beehive collecting other dead bees, and throw them out of the hive. They do this to keep the hive sanitary.

And this is my son's interpretation of the life of bees Lego-style.

I'm proud of myself because I ignored my thrifty impulses and bought the $3.00 (on sale) container of choice blueberry honey instead of the $1.00 bottle that I would usually buy. But it ($3) honey was pollinated by the tiny flowers of the blueberry bush (through the bees, of course) and I have to say it was worth every penny...especially on homemade cornbread!

Have a wonderful weekend~