All About Bees

All About Bees

Diet
Bees get most of their food from plants.
Bees like to eat nectar and pollen from
flowers. Nectar is a sticky liquid. It is
Habitats
very sugary and gives the bees energy.
Bees can be found all over the “beehive in el chorro park” by Devra
is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Pollen is a yellow powder.
world except in Antarctica.
When bees visit flowers, they pick
Some types of bees live in up and drop pollen from one flower
large groups called ‘colonies’. “Mining Bee” by Lydia Fravel is
licensed under CC BY 2.0 onto another. The plant then uses
this pollen to make new seeds. This is
There can be around 50,000 bees in one colony! called ‘pollination’.
Other types of bees live alone. These are called ‘solitary bees’.
These bees live underground, in trees or in small holes.

Types of Bees
Appearance There are around 25,000 different types of bees! In the UK, you might see
Bees are a type of insect. They have four wings – one pair mason bees, leaf-cutter bees and mining bees, among others.
of large wings at the front and one pair of smaller wings
at the back.
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The most common types of bees are honeybees and bumblebees though.

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Honeybees
All About Bees
Questions All About Bees

1. What is the name of the yellow powder made by flowers? Tick one.
Most honeybees live in an apiary.
This is a collection of beehives (nests) ○ honey
that were made by people. ○ nectar
Honeybees make honey so that they ○ pollen
have something to eat in winter. This
2. In your own words, what do female bees use their stinger for?
is because there are fewer flowers to
feed from. ○ 

Did You Know…?
Honeybees perform something called the 3. Find and copy the noun that is used for animals that pollinate plants.
‘waggle dance’. This is a way of moving 
their bodies to tell other bees where they
can find lots of food.
4. Draw four lines to match each word with its meaning.

apiary a place where an animal lives

Bumblebees
habitat a sticky liquid found in flowers
Bumblebees like to live in areas with
lots of flowers. They live in nests in dark nectar existing or living alone
places, such as bird boxes and thick
grass. Some types of bumblebees build solitary a collection of beehives
their nests underground.
5. What is the ‘waggle dance’?
Bumblebees are excellent pollinators.
This is because pollen sticks more easily 
to their fuzzy bodies.


6. Do you think it’s important that bees pollinate flowers? Why?

Did You Know…?
Bumblebees have smelly feet! 
They use this smell to tell

each other apart.

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