What We (Kids) Can Learn from Bees
World Bee Day (May 20) recently passed, but any day of the year makes a great time to celebrate and recognize the contributions of bees. All communities within Canada benefit from their work in some shape or form.
While honey bees get most of the press and positive PR, most people don’t know that the honey bee is in fact not native to Canada. The European honey bee (Apis mellifera) was introduced by early settlers in the 1600s primarily for agriculture and honey production. Meanwhile, our country is home to more than 850 other native species, with about 450 being located in British Columbia. Many play an important role in pollinating wild plants and crops. Common native species include bumblebees, mason bees, leafcutter bees, and mining bees. Bumblebees are especially important in Canada because they can survive cooler climates and are effective pollinators of crops that your household enjoys, including delicious tomatoes and blueberries.
As you and your child are probably aware, many species across Canada, from forests and grasslands to urban gardens, are threatened by habitat loss, pesticides, climate change, and disease. Protecting native plants and creating pollinator-friendly spaces in urbanized environments (here’s how) can help support these advantageous insects and maintain healthy ecosystems. Ultimately, increased awareness among the young and upcoming generation is the catalyst for corrective action and ongoing support for Canada’s cherished bee population in the future. Youth appreciation comes not just from recognizing all that bees offer in their direct capacity for pollinating plants and crops, but in other more nuanced observances. It’s the latter we wish to explore in today’s feature about what we can learn from honey bees, bumblebees, and other beneficial buzzers. Let’s have a look at what’s to be gained by encouraging your child to observe bees in your backyard, community garden, or apiary.
Three Unexpected Things That Your Child Can Learn from Observing Bees
A Sense of Pride and Duty in Their Community
While Canada has over 850 species of bees, nearly all of them are solitary. You know, loners. However, two of the best known species conduct themselves in a manner that promotes a sense of pride for and duty to one’s community. These include the honey bee (non-native) and the bumblebee (native).
Honey bees show a strong sense of pride in, and duty towards, their collective through the way they work together to support and protect their colony. Every bee has an important role, whether it is collecting nectar, caring for young bees, building honeycombs, or defending the hive. Worker bees tirelessly perform their tasks without rest, helping the colony survive and thrive. Their teamwork and dedication demonstrate responsibility, cooperation, and loyalty to the hive. By putting the needs of the colony first, honey bees serve as a powerful example of unity and commitment in nature. Because honey bees domesticated agricultural insects that are not native to Canada, the vast majority are concentrated in specific regions for honey production and crop pollination. To observe their community-supporting behavior, your household should visit a nearby apiary.
Bumblebees are also social, although they have smaller colonies (usually 50 to 200 bees) when compared to honey bees which only last for a single spring and summer. Despite having a shorter-lived existence, they too can teach your child about pride and duty. As with honey bees, each worker bumblebee takes on important responsibilities such as gathering pollen and nectar, feeding larvae, cleaning the nest, and defending the colony from danger. Even in harsh weather, bumble bees continue working hard to ensure the survival of the group. Their teamwork, dedication, and willingness to put the colony’s needs first demonstrate responsibility and cooperation. Your household can observe over 30 native bumblebee species in Canada by exploring native wildflower meadows, botanical gardens, and local parks during the summer. Track and identify your family’s sightings by taking photos and uploading them to community science platforms like Bumble Bee Watch or the iNaturalist Canada network, which assist researchers in monitoring vulnerable Canadian bee populations.
The Magic of Symbiotic Relationships
Canada’s over 850 species of bees may not all be social, but all of them play a role in pollination. This includes the non-native domesticated honey bee and hundreds of native wild species, including bumblebees, mason bees, sweat bees, mining bees, and leaf-cutting bees. They are vital for Canadian agriculture and ecosystems in varying degrees.
Observing them in nature will teach your child about symbiotic relationships (beneficial reciprocity) by showing how living things can help one another survive and grow. When bees collect nectar and pollen from flowers for food, they also spread pollen from one flower to another, helping plants reproduce. This relationship benefits the bees, flower and food-bearing plants, and those who enjoy them for sustenance, making it a great example of mutualism.
Observing honey bees and bumblebees further explores mutualism and will connect your child to the concept of fair trade, which is a topic we covered in this recent article.
“Fair trade behavior in nature can be seen when wildlife cooperates and shares resources in ways that benefit their own group and those of interconnected species. Many species work together to help one another survive, which is similar to the idea of fairness and mutual support in human fair trade systems. As a great example, honey bees can be observed participating in behaviors that resemble fair trade through the cooperative way they share labor and resources within a hive.”
How to Adapt to Changes, Challenges, and Struggles
Members of our editorial team put a lot of effort into creating an article about how to teach kids to overcome challenges. We could have saved them a couple of hours of typing by instead sending kids to a nearby pollinator garden to keep an eye on bumblebees.
Bumblebees exhibit an uncanny ability to adapt to challenges in nature. Even when the weather is cold, windy, or rainy, bumblebees can still fly and collect food. Their fuzzy (aka “teddy bear fur”) bodies help keep them warm, almost like wearing a tiny winter coat. While many other insects stay hidden during cool weather, bumblebees keep working hard to gather nectar and pollen for their colony. This helps flowers grow and gives the bees the food they need to survive. Bumblebees are also very flexible when it comes to finding new homes and food. They can build nests in underground holes, tall grass, or even empty birdhouses. If one type of flower is hard to find, they search for different flowers nearby. Ultimate, bumblebees can teach your child that being adaptable means trying new solutions when problems appear. By working together and adjusting to changes around them, bumblebees show how important it is to stay strong and never give up.
We hope everything above was helpful in the worthy mission of getting your child excited about bees. Meanwhile, please note that the Plant a Seed & See What Grows Foundation inspires and promotes healthy living and learning for kids across Canada. You can help us help the next generation by pledging your support too! View more on how you can get involved.
