The Bees Knees

Thursday, 15 August 2013

Hi, it’s me, Lulu, The Secret Blogger again! So, the bees knees. What a funny saying. I mean, do bees even have knees? And if so, why are they so good? Anyway, knees or not, bees are very good things. And not just because I can say the word “bee” very well plus I can do a good impression of a buzzy bee! We need bees for lots of reasons…

Bees on eryngium

Why Bees Are Important

Bees pollinate a wide range of crops, vegetables, fruits and plants

Without bees crops will be reduced and we wouldn’t have enough to eat (1)
Without bees plants wouldn’t survive
Without bees birds will be left without sufficient food

It’s important we encourage bees into our garden. There are lots more plants that bees like and M&D have listed their top ten favourites here. If we all plant a few of these in our gardens it will make a huge difference and that will be the “bees knees” 😉

Echinacea is popular with bees

To celebrate the humble bumble why don’t you ask your mummy and daddy to help you make your own bumble bee? I love this project as it’s suitable for kids of all ages:

Fingerprint Bumblebees

You will need:

Yellow paint
Black paint
Paper or card

How to make your bumble bee:

Cover your thumb in yellow paint.
Press your thumb on to a piece of paper at whatever angle you want your bee to be flying.
Dip your little finger into black paint.
Gently dot on a head and make an even smaller dot for the sting at the back of your bee.
Make three side by side dots (about the same size as the sting) in the middle for the black stripe.
Put your index finger into the black paint. Stamp many times onto a piece of scrap paper or paper towel until almost all the paint is gone. Then stamp a wing above the body at a slight angle and a second wing above the body at an opposite angle.

Make a bumble bee from finger prints

So, even when you are indoors you can have your very own cheery bumble bee! Thanks to the crafty people at DLTK for this idea.

I will leave the last word to a man called Albert Einstein. He was very clever, just like my Mummy.

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”

Lulu

1. I have a lot of friends who like their food a LOT and they wouldn’t be happy if there wasn’t enough to go round. Mentioning no names. Euan 😉