Corresponds to one lesson of 15 from the Life Cycles of Plants.
The Buzzz... On Bees

Activity - Training Honeybees in the Spring

You can train honeybees to come to a "flower" made of cardboard.


You Need:
  • five pieces of different colored cardboard squares
    (blue, yellow, red, green, and red)
  • 5 bottle caps that are the same size
  • sugar
  • water
  • tape

  1. Cut one flower from each color of the cardboard squares. You can print the shape at the bottom of the page and use it for the pattern.

  2. Put the five flower shapes on a table outside. Use a little bit of tape to make sure the flowers won't blow away. In the middle of each flower place a bottle cap filled with a little sugar and water.

  3. Watch your flowers for a while. Soon you will find that a bee has discovered your flowers. You can see it will drink the sugar water by lapping with its tongue.

  4. Once one bee has found the food, other bees will come. Soon, the "flower" you made will be crowded with bees.

  5. Now that you have trained bees to come to your flowers, test to see which color attracts the most bees. Is there a difference?