I need a simple, inexpensive bee related craft idea for kids to do

[twb]

I have an opportunity this spring to talk bees with kids by the thousands.  The organizer wants to give the kids a simple bee related craft on a limited budget.  Any great ideas that have worked for you in the past?

[JP]

Thousands of kids can put together an awful lot of frames. :-D How old are the kids?


...JP

[BjornBee]

How old the kids, and what kind of limited budget are you talking?

If they are real young.....

I think something along the lines of incorporating the understanding of food production, the need for bees, and the ability to have the kids walk away with something in their hands would all be points to make.

How about a starter kit of some sunflower seeds, watermelon, or other plant seeds, along with a small potted pot, soil, etc. The kids can put together the pots, the soil, and plant a few seeds of their choosing. A 50 lb bag of sunflower seeds at Walmart cost around 25 dollars. The small pots can be bought for 10 or 20 cents a piece in bulk, and a few bags of potting soil is all that needed.

The kids can walk away with a pot, watch the plants grow, can transplant them outside when the time is right, etc.

Better than some "crafty" type thing that will soon be thrown in the garbage.

The lessons they could learn, along with the enjoyment of producing something, will be long remembered. And you can teach a lesson about bees while they are doing the crafts.

[Brian D. Bray]

Good Idea BjornBee, plant a flower for a bee sounds like a good slogan to go along with the activity.  The kids will know that what they are doing will help a hive of bees near them.  Make sure you get RAW sunflower seeds still in the shell for planting or use some other flower.  The salted sunflower seeds ain't going to grow.

[tlynn]

How about making beeswax candles, minus hot wax of course?  You need wicks and sheets of wax foundation and you just roll it around the wicks tightly.  Pretty simple and you turn it into pretty honeycomb pattern candles like they sell at Wild Oats for 5 or 6 bucks a piece!  Here's Brushy Mountain's brood size foundation http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/prodinfo.asp?number=170.  .91 each.  I think you can get a couple of candles per sheet, depending on candle height, width, etc.  Probably go to a craft store like Michael's for wicks.  Of course when you are talking thousands of kids no budget is going to be cheap, unless you're making paper mache out of newspaper and flour!  :-P

[BjornBee]

children.....candles.....fire.....liability....lawsuits.....need I go further.

Having a couple hundred kids walk away from some event, all holding a really neat candle, may be the last thing this commmunity event may want to do.

[slaphead]

How about Beemail?

The kids are supplied with paper, pencils, colored pens, glue (you get the idea) and get to make their own Beemail to send to a family member or friend (through regular mail).

Just a thought.

SH

[bassman1977]

children.....candles.....fire.....liability....lawsuits.....need I go further.

Having a couple hundred kids walk away from some event, all holding a really neat candle, may be the last thing this commmunity event may want to do.

I don't think it's all doom and gloom  :thunder: .  I remember going on a field trip where the class got to make hand dipped candles.  Obviously the first thing I did when I got home was burn my candle, but I never set the house on fire...that was my brother's doing 5 years later.  :lau:

[tlynn]

children.....candles.....fire.....liability....lawsuits.....need I go further.

Having a couple hundred kids walk away from some event, all holding a really neat candle, may be the last thing this commmunity event may want to do.

Hey wait...did I say anything about matches?? :shock: As a matter of fact I remember as a kid making hand dipped candles at school with real wax.  Course we were probably heavily supervised and that was before lawyers outnumbered stars in the sky!

[adgjoan]

Continuing on with Bjorn's idea, for pots you can use 3 oz. plastic solo cups.  They are about 3 bucks for 100 cups. If the budget allows get some fun stickers for the cups. Take scissors and cut a sliver of plastic off the bottom rim of the cup for drainage.The kids will love taking ownership of their sunflower and watch for bees all summer long.

[Damonh]

Häagen-Dazs has a web site that is set up to help the honey bees. They may help to off set the cost of seeds etc. the web site is World wide web dot helpthehoneybees dot com
Damon

[Scadsobees]

Teach them the waggle-dance.  Who knows..maybe the best new dance moves since the Mr Roboto! :roll:

We'll keep our eyes peeled for the newspaper stories of hundreds of houses burning down in one night if you try candles... :roll:  :evil:

Give them each a pet drone on a string.

Question: Are you the one to administer the crafts, or are there others responsible?  If it is you then I wouldn't even attempt it.

[Keith13]

children.....candles.....fire.....liability....lawsuits.....need I go further.

Having a couple hundred kids walk away from some event, all holding a really neat candle, may be the last thing this commmunity event may want to do.

Didn't they try something like that in Chicago Oct. 8 1871 ;)

Keith

[KONASDAD]

Pipe cleaners can make a neat bee w/ a little imagination!
the seed idea is great, particularly when seeds can often be gotten real cheap from a donation for example.

Face painting like a bee

[tlynn]

We'll keep our eyes peeled for the newspaper stories of hundreds of houses burning down in one night if you try candles... :roll:  :evil:

Well alright then...candles are a lousy idea!  :-X 

[twb]

Thanks for the ideas and for the humor :).  I won't say for now which I thought were good ideas and which I found humorous ;).  I will try to remember to let you know how it all went and what we did for a craft in a few months when it is all over.  Thanks again.