How to 'Talk Bee' with Children: The Honey Bee Project

摘要

I am a fool for bees, children and state fairs. Every year, I volunteer time at the Buncombe County Beekeepers Chapter booth at the North Carolina State Fair. In 2006, I was dispensing I Love Honey stickers to children who had found the marked queen in our observation hive, when I noticed a woman enter the building. She was holding the hand of a child on either side of her. The observation hive was right in the middle of our table and all the bees were clearly under glass (i.e. no buzzing free-rangers). She took one look at the hive, screamed, and yanked her children from the building (and I do not exaggerate). I daresay that set a tone for their relationship with bees and possibly the whole of the natural world. I was working the booth with my husband, Joe, that day and I turned to him and said, "I feel like someone has thrown down the gauntlet. I have to educate children about the honey bees (so they can educate their parents)." And so, a short time later, The Honey Bee Project was born.