Yellow Jackets may look like bees but they are wasps. They are known to be unfriendly to other wasps and bees. They may get angry, especially when they hear noises. 
​Yellow jackets are not friendly to wasps or bees outside their colony and will steal honey and destroy hives.  Like bees, they have long, straw-like tongues to suck nectar and live in colonies. However, unlike bees, yellow jackets can be aggressive, so people should always setter clear of them. During this Invitation to Create, children explored using nature items and yellow/black confetti to design a yellow jacket collage. Handling small art materials, like confetti strengthens hand muscles as well as hand/eye coordination. Open ended projects like this one also help children discover there is no right or wrong way to create.
They were each given an oval and encouraged to decorated their "bee" anyway they wanted and add any designs they wanted!  They were encouraged to write the word Bee!

Carpenter Bees use their mandibles (mouth parts) to make holes in the wood. They build tunnels and make nests for their eggs. 
​They drew in their journals and created letter Mm collage using scrap paper. 

Bumble Bees vibrate their wings quickly and are loved by farmers. They can sting many times because they don't lose their stinger when they sting. 

Honey Bees are "super pollinators" and help flowers, plants, fruits and vegetables grow. Their colony is made of queen, drones and workers.  Making honey is not an easy task for worker bees. They have to collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to produce just one pound of honey. Bees are equipped with long, straw-like tongues to help suck up nectar from flowers. During this Invitation to Create, the children used their imagination and pretended to be worker bees sucking up sweet nectar. They explored tools to mimic a worker bee and created their own nectar painting. The children can learn important science concepts through playful art projects and pretend play. 
We played "pollinate the flowers," they chose a flower circle out of the bag, identified the number, placed a piece of yellow scrap paper on same number to pollinate it. 
​They used loose letter mats and wax sticks to form letters. 

Some weather can be dangerous for bees, such as heavy rain or snow. Creatures such as mites, wasps or bears can also hurt the hive. It is important not to swat at bees and aggravate them. They created a bee puppet with weather cards. They were encouraged to place the cards face down. Flip a card, then decide if the bee would be in or out of its hive in that weather. 

Bees have specific jobs to do for their colony. The queen bee legs eggs, the drones guard the hive and worker bees find the food. Honeycombs are like storage spaces for bees to put their precious honey. They are made of was and each cell has 6 sided hexagonal shape. During the Invitation to Create, the children used their engineering skills to plan, design, and construct a honeycomb. By exploring the artistic technique of stenciling, the children discovered ways to make and connect the hexagonal shapes. Through process-based art, the children experience art and use their own ideas without steps or directions. 

Eggs hatch into a larva that is like a worm. Baby bees stay near the hive to keep safe until they are bigger. The queen bees stays in the hive and lays eggs. She lays thousands of eggs every day. They created their own Queen Bee headband. They used play dough and bingo chips (eggs) to count bee eggs.  They rolled the die, identified the number and pressed that many "eggs" into the play dough. They were encouraged to make "cells" in the play dough by pressing holes with their fingers. 
​In their journals they were encouraged to draw a hive and baby bees. They also worked on the letter Kk! 

Bees have two stomachs; one for eating food and the other for saving food to take to the nest. Bees collect nectar and pollen for food and to help pollinate plants. We had some busy little bees in preschool today. They used colored water, eyedroppers and ice cube trays to suck up the "nectar" (water)  and carry it to the "hive" (ice cube tray).
They took turns rolling the die, identified the number, and counted that many bits (yellow bingo chips)  of pollen to add to the honeycomb. 
They used a "bee" (craft stick colored with black/yellow stripes) to draw letters and lines in the sand.  
They also did some journal work and made kites using squares for the letter Kk. 

From birth, children naturally have the desire to learn and seek out solutions to problems. Children are curious beings and exposure to life science is a wonderful way to further their instinct for discovery. Life science concepts such as animal homes, behaviors and traits are not only interesting for children to learn about; they can also be seen in their own backyard. For example, children can observe the behaviors of bees flying in an out of a beehive or pollinating flowers. These experiences can help children better understand and appreciate all of the living things that share our environment. 
Bees can have different types of homes such as hives, nests or underground. These homes are places to lay eggs and store food. 
Beehives are the homes of worker bees, drones, and the queen bee. Bees do more than just live inside these fascinating domes; they have specific jobs to do to make their colony function. During this Invitation to Create, the children experimented with stamping and creating their own unique beehive designs. They explored using textured materials, and even their own fingerprints, to create a beehive. 

Rattlesnakes make rattling noise with their tail to scare away predators. They hunt for and eat small rodents and lizards. They created a rattlesnake shaker using a cardboard tube, markers and beans. 
We pretended the worm counters were snakes to do some table top math!  We all agreed we are not big fans of snakes!