Don’t get your kids to hate bees, bees are an important part of nature and are rapidly dying off. With your help your kids could help to welcome the bees back by planting bee friendly garden, and have some fun too!!
1. Plant bee-friendly shrubs, trees and flowers
You don’t need lots of space to take part in this. Pots on a patio, hanging baskets, herbs in planters, or flower beds all help bees. Fill them with their favourites! For summer, plant some fragrant lavender, look out for a hawthorn, and make your flower beds look really impressive with some Monarda (also known as ‘Bee Balm’!) Look online to find the best bee-friendly plants for each season.
2. Grow fruit and veg
Just like us, bees need a variety of food. While flowers are the obvious option, bees also love fruit and vegetables. While you get to enjoy growing your own produce, the bees will help pollinate your crop! From apples, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries, to runner beans, peppers, and onions.
3. Visit The Hive
This 17 meter tall multi-sensory experience highlights the extraordinary life of bees. The lights and the sounds inside The Hive are triggered by bee activity in a real beehive at Kew! Step inside to see the ever-changing lights and sounds.
4. Provide shelter
Hate mowing the lawn? Good news! Put the mower away and let your grass grow a little longer. Cutting less closely and less often allows bees to feed and shelter in the grass. If you like a perfectly preened lawn, another habitat option is leaving a small woodpile in the corner. It will decay over time to give a more natural look and bugs will soon move in.
5. Choose honey carefully
If possible, buy local honey from a beekeeper. Cheaper honey may seem like the more attractive option for your purse, but it’s often not pure honey. Surely it’s worth paying a little extra for the purest honey? You can also rest assured that the bees that produced it were well looked after, making it taste even sweeter!
6. If all else fails, follow David Attenborough!
When it comes to all things nature, who else will you listen to? Attenborough has warned that if bees become extinct humans will only have 4 years to live. And 1 third have already died out! To help tired bees in the summer heat, David recommends leaving a teaspoon of sugar and water out. You’ve probably seen bees looking like they’re dying before but don’t worry, they’re normally just exhausted! This simple solution will revive them in no time.
