Home Learning Challenge

1. And why you should!
By Isla
How to rescue a bumble
bee

2. • Bumble bees are important because they help pollinate flowers.
• This means they take pollen from one flower to another flower.
• About one third of the food we eat only grows after being
pollenated by bees.
• Without bees, there would be no apples, nuts, avocados, asparagus,
broccoli, celery, zucchini, cucumbers, citrus fruit, peaches, kiwifruit,
cherries, blueberries, strawberries, and watermelon!
• Honey bee’s are affected by diseases, and there aren’t as many left.
• Bumble bees are helping to do the pollenating.
Why are bumble bees important?

4. • Bumble bees are quite different to honey bees.
– They don’t live in huge hives.
– A bumble bee nest usually has only 50 to 400 bees.
– A honey bee hive has 50,000 bees.
– Bumble bees don’t mind bad weather.
– Honey bees stay home when its cold or wet.
– Only the queen bumble bee lives through the winter.
– Honey bee hives stay alive all year around.
– Bumble bees can sting, but they are much less aggressive than honey bees.
– Bumble bees only sting if you try to hurt them.
Bumble Bees

5. • Sometimes, you might find a bumble bee walking around outside.
• This bee has run out of energy, and can’t fly away.
• If it can’t get home, it will die.
• You can rescue it by giving it a drink of sugar water.
Why do bumble bees need rescuing?

6. • Boil some water.
• Dissolve 3 or 4 heaped teaspoons of sugar in a little hot water.
• Use just enough water to get all the sugar to dissolve.
• It takes lots of stirring!
• Let the sugar water cool.
• Now its ready to go.
Making sugar water

7. • Put a piece of paper towel on a saucer.
• Pour on just enough sugar water to wet the paper towel.
• Carefully pick up the bumble bee with a spoon or stick.
• Put the bumble bee on the paper towel.
• If you watch closely, you will see the bee’s tongue come out and
start sucking up the sugar water.
• Add a little more sugar water if needed but not too much.
• After 15 or 20 minutes, the bumble bee will fly away home.
• You are now an official bumble bee rescuer!
How to rescue a bumble bee