ABSTRACT
A group of two girls and four boys is looking at a small swarm of bees that arrived this spring in our garden, next to the large climbing frame on the grass bank. The bees have made lots of holes in this part of the garden. They go in and fly out all day long. At first the children observing them were a little scared, saying things like ‘They’re monsters!’ and screaming, then running away, and then returning for another look. One of the boys, Daniel (4 years, 6 months) asked if they were wasps or bees and wanted to know if they could make honey. Together we took a closer look and decided they were the wrong colour for wasps and were also too big. Aaron (3 years, 6 months) said they were monsters and then tried to shoot them with his finger, going ‘zap zap’ from a safe distance! Daniel was still looking at them and started talking about making honey. He said we could make some at the nursery. I asked him how we could do it. He replied that we had to pick some flowers together*. We went inside to get a tray for the flowers, then back to the garden to collect wild flowers – daisies, buttercups and dandelions. When the tray was full we sat on the grass and studied them. Daniel said, ‘We have to pick out the pollen from the centre of each flower’.* It took a while to do this, placing it in the corner of the tray. Daniel said we had enough to make the honey and then asked me go get a cup and spoon. I got them. Daniel put the contents into the cup and then stirred it with the spoon saying, ‘I know it will make honey’*.
