Why do bees make honey?
Quick answer from Eartha
Bees make honey so they have food to eat when flowers are hard to find, like in winter. They collect sweet nectar from flowers and carry it back to the hive. There, bees turn it into honey and store it in wax cells. It's their pantry, all packed away for later!
The longer story
Bees fly from flower to flower collecting nectar, a sweet liquid, and carry it back to their hive inside a special stomach just for storing it.
Inside the hive, worker bees pass the nectar between themselves and fan it with their wings to remove extra water. This turns runny nectar into thick, sticky honey.
The bees store this honey in small wax rooms called cells, sealing them up like tiny jars. A hive can hold a large amount of honey, sometimes many kilograms, ready for the whole colony to share.
Honey is important because it gives bees energy to survive through times when there are not many flowers around, such as during winter or dry weather.
Try this at home: Honey taste test
- With a grown-up, taste a small spoon of honey and describe what it tastes like.
- Look at a jar of honey up close and notice its thick, golden colour.
- Talk about how the honey started as nectar inside a flower.
Words to know
- nectar
- Sweet liquid inside flowers that bees collect and carry home.
- hive
- The home where a colony of bees lives and stores honey.
- worker bee
- A bee whose job is to collect food and care for the hive.
For grown-ups: what is my child learning here?
Age band: 5-8
Curriculum link: Australian Curriculum v9 Science, AC9S2U01
The concept: Animals have behaviours and body parts that help them survive and store resources for the future.
More classroom ideas are on our teachers page, and safety notes for families are on for parents.
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