Grades K-3 Workshops

Beeswax candle making: Students learn about how bees make wax and then learn techniques for rolling candles. Each student will roll with flat and embossed wax. Each student can make their creations from the equivalent of one sheet of wax. (Extra charge of $3 per student)

Mason bee house building: Students learn about the ecology of wild mason bees (lifecycle, role in pollination, appearance, habitat, characteristics) and the importance of creating bee habitat. Students build the mason bee house and take it home for painting or decorating. They are also provided with an instruction sheet on maintenance and care of the bee house. (Extra charge of $3 per student)

Plant Lifecycles - The Pollination Game: Students learn about the process of pollination, the role of honeybees and the relationships between flowers and a variety of pollinating animals including hummingbirds and moths. Students play a game to reinforce the process of pollination and strategies of flowers to attract pollinators and the role of pollinators.

Insect Identification - That's not a Honeybee: Students learn to distinguish different insects that are commonly confused with honeybees. They learn about other insect pollinators and their roles in ecosystems.

Honeycomb Construction - Building like a Honeybee: Students explore geometry as they learn about properties of different shapes and that only one - the hexagon - is ideally suited for the honeycomb. Students manipulate shapes, experiment with filling spaces with different shapes and build a class honeycomb (3-D for grade 2 & 3, cutting and folding required, 2-D for younger grades, no cutting required).

      Grades 4-9 Workshops

Polarization of Light - The Secret of Honeybee Navigation: Students learn about the visible light spectrum by observing light through prisms and polarized lenses. Then play a game using a "sky compass" to navigate like a honeybee.

Structures Building Competition: Students learn the basics of building strong shapes using beams of rolled newspaper and tape. Teams of students work cooperatively to build a structure into which their group can fit.

Classification of Organisms: Students learn how to use a dichotomous key to identify a variety of insects. Then, they make their own dichotomous key to identify a variety of honeybee relatives and look-alikes.

Beeswax candle making: Students learn about how bees make wax and then learn techniques for rolling candles. Each student will roll with flat and embossed wax. Each student can make their creations from the equivalent of one sheet of wax. (Extra charge of $3 per student)

Mason bee house building: Students learn about the ecology of wild mason bees (lifecycle, role in pollination, appearance, habitat, characteristics) and the importance of creating bee habitat. Students build the mason bee house and take it home for painting or decorating. They are also provided with an instruction sheet on maintenance and care of the bee house. (Extra charge of $3 per student)

Adaptations of Organisms - The Amazing Race Through Evolutionary Time - Students learn to identify adaptations of animals and plants as characteristics that make an individual more likely to survive in an environment. Teams of students race to find behavioural and physical adaptations of honeybees, flowering plants and honeybee parasites. They develop an appreciation of the complexity of nature and of ecological patterns.