The Fairy-Land of Science · Lecture IX, part 1 · Part 9: Lecture IX: Bees in the hive
25. A city of bees, and why their cells have six sides
Goal: Your child can name the three kinds of bee in a hive (queen, workers, drones), tell how workers make wax and build comb, and show why cells come out six-sided.
You'll need
- Six or seven drinking straws (or round pencils) and a rubber band
- Dish soap, water, a straw and a plate (for bubbles)
- A piece of honeycomb or a picture of one
- Science notebook and pencils
What's in the book
Pages 193 to 200. A riddle about a wonderful city (a beehive); the blind naturalist Huber and his glass hive; a swarm hanging like a plum-pudding from an apple bough; workers, drones and the queen; bees sealing cracks with sticky propolis; workers making wax from pockets under their bodies; nurse bees carving six-sided cells back to back; and why squeezed circles become six-sided.
The lesson, step by step
Hook: a riddle
Read pages 193 and 194 without saying the answer, and let your child guess what city it is.
In it you will find streets, but no pavements, for the inhabitants walk along the walls of the houses; while in the houses you will see no windows, for each house just fits its owner, and the door is the only opening in it.
(A beehive!)
Read together
Read page 195 about Huber, who was blind but learned the bees' secrets with the help of his wife and his servant, and page 196 about the swarm.
we see that it is a large cluster or swarm of bees clinging to each other by their legs
Safety: watch bees from a few steps away and keep still; never swat at them or touch a hive or a swarm. Anyone allergic to stings should stay indoors and watch through a window. A swarm is best left to a beekeeper.
Who lives in the hive?
Look at Fig. 54 on page 197: the worker, the queen and the drone.
Workers: the busy bees. They gather honey and pollen, build, clean, nurse and guard.
The queen: longer body, lays all the eggs.
Drones: big, dark, male bees that do no work.
Read or tell pages 197 to 199: workers seal cracks with sticky propolis from tree buds, and make wax from eight little pockets under their bodies.
Try it: why six sides?
Read page 200.
If you make a number of round holes close together in a soft substance, and then squeeze the substance evenly from all sides, the rounds will gradually take a six-sided form
Bundle the straws tightly with the rubber band and look at the ends: each straw is touched by six around it. Then mix a little dish soap and water on the plate and blow a pile of small bubbles with the straw. Where the bubbles press together, look for six-sided shapes.
SaySix-sided cells fit together with no wasted space and use the least wax.
Tell it back and check
Your child tells back how bees build a comb. Then ask:
1. What are the three kinds of bee in a hive?
2. Where does a worker's wax come from?
3. Why are the cells six-sided?
Draw it
Draw a patch of honeycomb, six-sided cells fitted together, and draw a worker, a queen and a drone beside it.
Afterwards
Notice it this week: look for hexagons (six-sided shapes) around you: honeycomb, tiles, a soccer ball, nuts and bolts, a snowflake.
Tip
If you can buy a piece of comb honey, look at the cells closely before tasting. (No honey for babies under one year old.)
Answers to the book's problems
1. The queen, the workers and the drones. 2. From little pockets (wax glands) under the worker's body; the bee makes it from the honey she has eaten. 3. Because cells pressed together evenly take a six-sided shape, which fills every bit of space and uses the least wax.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.