Help......need advice! a teacher I know wants me to visit 5yr. old students..

hollybees · August 08, 2009, 12:10:23 PM

Hello Everyone,
I work with a guy who's wife runs the latchkey program at a local school. (its kind of a daycare program 5-6 yr. olds)
Well, I asked him the other day if I were to get an observation hive maybe the kids would like to see the bees.

Ok, I don't have one...and never have had one. It was just kind of a shoot from the hip question.

Well.....he mentioned it to her and she's "all" excited about it and wants to know when I can do it.
Oh, and she wants to know if I would spend some time with the kids and give them a bee lesson.

Holy Crap! I got myself in it now :shock: ..... I keep getting visions of that movie "kindergarten cop"

I'm sure there are those of you that have experience in this and I would welcome your advise.....very much!!

I have a nuc with a small colony that is not going to buildup enough to get through winter and I was going to combine them w/a stronger hive.
It would probably be perfect for a ob hive.
I've been considering setting one up in the house anyway.

Thanks in advance..
Paul

hardwood · August 08, 2009, 01:44:57 PM

I made a simple 1-frame observation box out of some wood and 2 panes of glass...took me about an hour.When asked to do such as this I simply open a hive and take what I think to be a good representative frame with workers, drones, some brood and some honey and put it in my "box". I of course leave the queen.

Grandpa Jim · August 08, 2009, 02:12:17 PM

An observation hive in a class of 5 and 6 year olds is a great experience for you and the kids. They will have 100 questions and they will be good questions. I have taken mine into several schools and my granddaughter's preschool. They love to feel the warm glass and listen to the bees in the OH.

Just make sure that ANYTHING that can be opened is screwed shut. The entrance should have a plate over it that is screwed on. In my granddaughter's class one boy sat right beside the hive with a teacher and pulled out a plug that I would have had a hard time removing. The teacher said, excuse me but your bees are getting out. I thought they can't, but when I looked this boy was holding the plug and the some bees were exiting the hive. There were windows in the room and the bees flew right to them. The teachers were ready to call in the SWAT team. I calmly closed the entrance and went to the window and picked the bees off the glass(squashing them and putting them into my other hand). Later the teacher asks me if I am going to put the bees back into the hive?? I said no, for everyone I put in two will come out. I think she thought I was upset for having to kill some of the bees(It was only 10 bees), but I wasn't upset at all. I was just glad there were no stings (other then to my hand that was holding the 'almost dead bees').

The kids also like to put on a veil, smell some bees wax and taste some honey on crackers. Get that hive setup, make sure there are no 'bee leaks' and go show off your bees, they will love it.
Jim

Karl Wisconsin · August 08, 2009, 03:18:20 PM

Just a thought but if there are any bee "clubs" or state organization nearby you could check with them. Might be able to borrow one. Kids are fun the educate. At that age try to keep it relatively simple and you will be surprised by their interest.

RayMarler · August 08, 2009, 10:07:56 PM

Here's how me and my buddy do it...

We take a single frame Ohive with the glass covered. We don't open it up until the end.
We talk about how we got started in beekeeping and describe what beekeeping is and what all the equipment is. We pass around a propolis covered hive tool and we puff their hands with a smoker and we take two veils with hats we let them all wear. The interaction with the students where they can touch smell and feel is the best, they really enjoy it. Then we talk a bit about the bees and the colony, describing each caste of bee and their duties. We talk about pollination and nectar and how we get the honey away from the bees. Then we open the Ohive that has a marked queen in it and they come two at a time to look at it while i describe what they are seeing. Then they go around the table to where my buddy is, he has brought a frame of comb honey and he gives them all a taste on a popsicle stick.

It's a great time for us and a real kick in the pants for the kids. We've done pre-school aged through 3rd grades and it's always a great time.

sc-bee · August 09, 2009, 12:04:58 AM

Honey stix ---- on fingers etc. doesn't go well with the hand sanitizer requirement :). Probably not the best honey but they will love it.

beemaster · August 09, 2009, 03:29:23 AM

Here are some things I wrote back in 2000 - long before the forum, when I first started my Beekeeping Course Section http://www.beemaster.com/site/honeybee/beehome.htm (by the way, I hope MOST of you have at least taken a look at this, it was early Internet educational stuff I worked hard at and think it should help beginners especially) besides the main page above, here are some lecturing tips below.

But do yourself a BIG FAVOR with 5 year olds, do two things:

1) Ask right away how many have been stung before to raise their hands - this will stop them wanting to tell you all their sting stories one at a time. Just explain how different honeybee stings are compared to other nastier stinging insects and get off that topic.

2) don't miss out on this groups age, take advantage if they are timid by holding up FIVE FINGERS (done disgreetly at first) and ask "How many eyes does a honeybee have?" Some brave child will come forth and take your clue and get the chatter going!

Hope the info helps, and enjoy talking to them, it is a great experience.

http://www.beemaster.com/site/honeybee/crowd.html
http://www.beemaster.com/site/honeybee/photoless.html
http://www.beemaster.com/site/honeybee/speaking.html
http://www.beemaster.com/site/honeybee/props.html

annette · August 09, 2009, 01:27:43 PM

John

I came across your beekeeping course even before I found out about the forum. I even printed out many pages of stuff from you. How do you like that?? I didn't even know that was you.

beemaster · August 09, 2009, 02:09:37 PM

Quote from: annette on August 09, 2009, 01:27:43 PM
John

I came across your beekeeping course even before I found out about the forum. I even printed out many pages of stuff from you. How do you like that?? I didn't even know that was you.

Annette:

That IS interesting. I started the beekeeping course long before I had Beemaster.com actually, by about 3 years under a small dialup servers/member.html type name. It took off some, but nothing like it did when I got Beemaster which really shot to the top of engines in a matter of a year or so.

You can search beekeeping many ways, under many terms and typically we are on the first page of any search, that alone in a world where you get 2 or 3 million replies to a search is amazing, and almost always first or second when searching Beekeeping Forums or Beekeeping Courses.

It has been a fun ride and I have met so many terrific people along the way and I believe it has only just begun for so many people will continue to find us, make friends, meet other members and become special people to us. Every day is a bit like Christmas when we have new members join, you never know what treasures are under the tree :)

Glad (I hope) you found my course info helpful or at least entertaining. I need to find out exactly where the link is to my 2001 logbook section - it was a year in my life I would like to read again, and it really brought me great emails which ulimately lead to the forum.

hollybees · August 10, 2009, 12:45:26 PM

Hello Everyone,

I'm very grateful for all the advice. I mean you touched on things I know I wouldn't have thought of.
Even got advice from the Big Guy :-D .....Thanks for great links John.

I can say with some confidence that I'm at least less terrified now.

Man, I'm sure grateful to have this forum its truly my beekeeping lifeline!!

Paul

Quote from: Grandpa Jim on August 08, 2009, 02:12:17 PM
An observation hive in a class of 5 and 6 year olds is a great experience for you and the kids. They will have 100 questions and they will be good questions. I have taken mine into several schools and my granddaughter's preschool. They love to feel the warm glass and listen to the bees in the OH.

Thanks Jim, but which 100 question are those? I'm not sure I know that many answers. I guess I better do some refresher reading.

annette · August 10, 2009, 01:16:52 PM

John

I just googled it

http://www.beemaster.com/site/honeybee/beelog.html

What I remember most on your original posts, were those 2 beehives sitting on top of milk cartons and numbered C1 and C2.

This photo was on the cover of my first beekeeping looseleaf binder, before I knew who you were.

http://www.beemaster.com/site/pgallery/images/cellwall.jpg

Grandpa Jim · August 11, 2009, 11:07:56 AM

Paul,
If you enjoy your bee and beekeeping you will do just fine. If they come up with a question you do not know the answer to, just say I am not sure about that answer, they will move on to the next question.

Where is the Queen? Is there a King Bee? What dose he do? Do you ever get stung? Dose it hurt? Where is the Queen(they will ask that many times)? Where are the baby bees? Do bees sleep? How many bees do you have? What dose the smoke do? They may even ask about the queens mating habits(a simple explanation works)(don't get into her hanging out at bars with a dozen drones habit) How much honey do they make? What do bees eat? My brother eats dirt. Where is the Queen?

Have fun, enjoy the kids. They are our future beekeepers.

Jim