Build a bee hotel and fill it with friendly bees.  Take a buzz around outside and pretend to pollinate. 

What You Need: 

• Cardboard box 
• Colorful tape or paint 
• Cardboard tubes 
• Yellow, black, and white pipe cleaners 

What You Do: 

1. Decorate the cardboard box using colorful tape or paint.  The box will be the exterior of your bee hotel. 
2. Fill the box with cardboard tubes.   
3. Make a few pretend bees.  Twist together one yellow and one black pipe cleaner.  Wrap them around your finger to create the bee body. 
4. Cut one white pipe cleaner in half.  Thread it through the bee body and shape it into wings. 
5. Play around with your bees.  Have them fly back and forth between the bee hotel and flowers or plants in your yard or garden. 
6. When you’re done pretending, set your bee hotel up outdoors to attract pollinators. 

Did You Know? Many species of bees are solitary. They live alone and not in hives. They don’t have a queen and don’t produce honey. Solitary bees lay their eggs in small holes. You’ll know that solitary bees are using your bee hotel if they cover the opening to a tube with mud. 

Words to Use: 

• Pollinator: Insects or other creatures that transfer pollen to flowers or plants so that they produce seeds. 
• Solitary: Single or alone. 
• Pollen: A fine powder produced by flowers, which is carried by the wind or by insects to other flowers of the same type, making them produce seeds.  

Change It Up:  

• Add additional plant material to your bee hotel.  Fill the area not occupied by the tubes with sticks, pine needles, or leaves. 
• Build a more permanent bee hotel.  Find out how here: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/build-your-own-bee-hotel/ 

Learning Connections:  

• Curiosity 
• Imagination 
• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) 
• Nature Exploration 
• Career Exploration 

Curriculum Connections:
NC Standard Course of Study 

• Science: 1.L.1, 1.L.2, 12.L.2, 3.L.2, 4.L.1, 5.L.2 
• Social Studies: 1.G.2, 2.G.2