Honeybees, Bumblebees, and Wasps—Oh My!

Materials:
o List of bee parts
o Crayons or colored pencils
o Honeycomb hive poster
o Scissors
o Honeycomb cereal
o Laser pointer
o PlayPosit website open
o 3x5 notecards
o Tape

Objective: Students will have a basic understanding of the various anatomies of honeybees, wasps, and
bumblebees; they will be able to identify the distinguishing features and identify the similarities and
differences of each species. Students will also have a basic understanding of the importance of the work
of several types of bees.

Lesson Plan:
Body Part Labeling
Questions: Does everybody know what a bee is? What about a wasp? What do they look like?
Pass out lists of anatomical bee parts to students:
 Antenna
 Front Wing
 Back Wing
 Stinger
 Head
 Thorax
 Abdomen
 Sticky Hairs

Pass this list out along with a picture of a bee and ask the students to label and color each
anatomical part as best as they can.
-Crayons, colored pencils, blank pictures of bees
Go over the answers and have students cut their pictures out and hang it up on a honeycomb
beehive in the room somewhere.
-Scissors, tape

Explain what each basic part is for:

  Tell students to take a great big breath in—what do you smell?
Antenna- how the bees smell and sense nectar/pollen

 What sound do bees make? —Buzzing

Front/Back Wings- help them fly and to get extra high extra fast
 Abdomen- third part of the bee’s body that holds the stinger and the sticky hairs
Fun fact: a bee can only use its stinger once and a wasp can use it indefinitely
 What do you think the sticky hairs are for?
Sticky hairs- help to collect and pass around pollen (pollination) so flowers and
other things can grow

Their Roles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNWAiWBup2Q
Open this video through PlayPosit which has the following embedded questions:
1. What is the shape called that makes up the majority of a beehive?
2. What is this body part called? (Stinger)
3. This bee is collecting nectar through a machine that sucks up the sticky substance. What
is the actual way a bee collects pollen and nectar?
4. How is it that bees make that buzzing noise as they fly by?

Pass out 3x5 notecards to everyone and have them write their name and answers to the
questions in complete sentences.
-3x5 notecards
Before-Video Questions (write answers on one side):
Why do you think bees and other pollinators are important?
What do you believe would happen if all of the bees in the world disappeared?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c963NhkfNY0
After-Video Questions (write answers on other side):
Name some examples of things humans would go without if bees disappeared.
Who do you think bee disappearances would affect most? Trick question: All of us!!
Have students get into groups of 2 or 3 to talk about some of their answers for about 2-3
minutes.
Get each group of students to share the most important thing they talked about.
 Collect the notecards and post them on the board with everyone’s cut-out bees for the students
to see their work.

Honeybees, Wasps, and Bumblebees

Pull up picture of all three insects.
Questions: Can anyone tell me what they think the differences are between a honeybee and a
bumblebee? Now what about between bees and wasps?
Use laser pointer to go over some of the basic parts that students learned from the coloring
activity.
Wings—Antenna—Abdomen—Sticky Hairs
Question: After talking about all of this, why do you think a bee’s legs and body would be so
important? Let’s look at some of the differences of the lower half of their bodies.
Show them a close-up of a honeybee’s legs (annotated, pointing at important pieces).
What do you notice?- Explain importance of the labeled piece.
Show them a close-up of a wasp’s legs (annotated)
What is different from the first picture? What is similar?
Invite students to share some of the similarities and differences they find
Show them a close-up of a bumblebee’s legs (annotated)
What is different from the first two pictures? What is similar?
Invite students to share their thoughts again
Closing Thoughts
Congrats! You’re all bee experts. Welcome to the world of bees!
Show students this funny clip from Bee Movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQQiH5p5nPk
Test Yourself
1. What adaptations do bees have to pick up pollen other than their sticky pili?
Their corbicula (pouch on their abdomen).
2. How would you design a machine that would have the ability to pollinate plants?
Any creative answer involving spreading pollen from place to place.
3. Can you explain why wasps don’t have as many sticky hairs on their legs as bees?
Explain about their sleekness and that they might dig instead.
4. What purpose does the antenna on a bee or wasp serve?
It is the bee’s sense of “smell.”
5. Why do you think wasps can sting their prey multiple times and bees can only sting once?
Wasps might have barbed stingers or multiple stingers that aren’t attached to internal organs.