The Honey Bees :: Week 29

The Honey Bees spent the week playing and wondering what was going on in our chicken eggs.  We read lots of stories about rabbits, and watched our painted lady caterpillars get larger and more spiky. We watched our chick embryo development video over and over, thinking about what might be happening in our eggs each day. Over the weekend the all six of our caterpillars made a chrysalis, and this morning we put them into our habitat. I’ll post a video on instagram of them moving this morning. The Friendly Foxes have one more caterpillar to make the transition, so maybe we’ll get to see it. This sets us up for a big week next week with our chicks due on Wednesday and Thursday and our caterpillars emerging somewhere between Monday and Thursday. Spring is truly springing. I’ll be in touch as they start to hatch, and I’d love to have any of you come and watch. I’ve done this so many times, but it is always absolutely magical. I’d love to have everyone watch at least one hatch if possible.

Today we started talking about Honey Bees! We started reading a book about Honey Bees and decided which kind of bee we might want to be, a worker, drone, or Queen. We had a few of each. The kids were surprised that bees don’t make honey just for us. We talked a little about pollination and how bees help plants produce fruits and vegetables. This week we are going to build a pretend hive, play in honeycomb sensory bins, create some “honeybee” sensory art, and talk about hexagons and the number six.