Book of the week
The Bumblebear by Nadia Shireen.
Synopsis
There's a new bee at Bee School. But that bee is not a bee... It's a BEAR!
Cheeky, sneaky Norman has a cunning plot to trick the bees and steal their honey. In his best bee onesie, Norman makes quite a convincing bee -- but how long will his disguise last? And when the hive is endangered can he finally discover his true destiny and become The Bumblebear?
Weekly Activities
The tie in with our book of the week, we tried our hand at making earth candles. We started by reading our book of the week at basecamp and talked about bees, honey and beeswax amongst other things.
In order to make our earth candles we first needed to dig some small holes which would act as the wax cast. The children used either pieces of wood, spoons or trowels to dig some small round holes. After this we started to make our wicks. We asked the children to look for a small twig and then cut a piece of wax wick to length using scissors. We wrapped the wick around the centre of the twig a few times so it left a few centimeters of wick hanging beneath the twig. After the wicks were ready we needed to melt the wax so we built a fire, put lots of very small wax pellets into a metal jug, placed it on our fire and waited. After a little while the wax started to melt which prompted a discussion about the state of matter i.e. things turning from a solid, into a liquid and then back to a solid once again. We placed a twig/wick across the top of each hole so the wick hung centrally down into the hole.
Carrying the melted wax in the metal jug, we walked very carefully to where we had dug our holes and then carefully poured some wax into each hole. All we had to do then was leave the wax to solidify in the hole (we left them over night) with the wick in the centre and poking out of the top of the earth candle. The next day after the wax had turned back to a solid, we dug the candles up for the children to take home.
Aims and Objectives
To deepen the children's understanding of bees and what they do
To make candles using beeswax
To further explore fire safety and use of candles
To understand different states of matter
Home Activity
Follow the BBC link to try out some great bee inspired activities such as:
Going on a bee hunt
Making a bee hotel
Planting some bee friendly pots
Making a bee observatory
Drawing your own bee family
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