وَأَوْحَىٰ رَبُّكَ إِلَى ٱلنَّحْلِ أَنِ ٱتَّخِذِى مِنَ ٱلْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا وَمِنَ ٱلشَّجَرِ وَمِمَّا يَعْرِشُونَ

And your Lord inspired to the bee, “Take for yourself among the mountains, houses, and among the trees and [in] that which they construct.

Dan Tuhanmu memberi ilham kepada lebah: “Hendaklah engkau membuat sarangmu di gunung-ganang dan di pokok-pokok kayu, dan juga di bangunan-bangunan yang didirikan oleh manusia.

(Surah an-Nahl 16:68)

ثُمَّ كُلِى مِن كُلِّ ٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ فَٱسْلُكِى سُبُلَ رَبِّكِ ذُلُلًا ۚ يَخْرُجُ مِنۢ بُطُونِهَا شَرَابٌ مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَٰنُهُۥ فِيهِ شِفَآءٌ لِّلنَّاسِ ۗ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَءَايَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

Then eat from all the fruits and follow the ways of your Lord laid down [for you].” There emerges from their bellies a drink, varying in colors, in which there is healing for people. Indeed in that is a sign for a people who give thought.

Kemudian makanlah dari segala jenis bunga-bungaan dan buah-buahan (yang engkau sukai), serta turutlah jalan-jalan peraturan Tuhanmu yang diilhamkan dan dimudahkannya kepadamu”. (Dengan itu) akan keluarlah dari dalam badannya minuman (madu) yang berlainan warnanya, yang mengandungi penawar bagi manusia (dari berbagai-bagai penyakit). Sesungguhnya pada yang demikian itu, ada tanda (yang membuktikan kemurahan Allah) bagi orang-orang yang mahu berfikir.

(Surah an-Nahl 16:69)

Sumber: justmontessori.com

Lebah adalah antara jenis lain serangga. Ada lebih kurang 20,000 spesies lebah. Antara yang kita sudah biasa termasuklah  honey bees, bumble bees, and sweat bees. Lebah boleh dijumpai di semua benua kecuali Antartica. Lebah ada dua antenna dan 2 pasang sayap. Lebah hidup dalam koloni dan setiap koloni ada 40,000 lebah!

Lebah Madu adalah serangga yang sosial dan bekerjasama. Lebah-lebah ini dibahagikan kepada 3 jenis. Lebah Pekerja (Worker bees) adalah lebah yang biasa kita tengok terbang di luar. Mereka adalah lebah betina. Kerja-kerja seekor lebah pekerja termasuklah membina honeycombs, mengumpul pollen and nectar to feed the colony, membersihkan hive, dan membantu circulate udara dalam hive dengan beating their wings.

The comb is made up of hexagonal shaped cells and are used to store nectar, pollen, and water. There is usually one queen in a hive and her job is to lay eggs. Insects go through metamorphosis. Bees go through four stages of development; egg, larvae, pupa, and adult bee. The male bees are called drones. The female bees store venom in a sac attached to their stingers.

The honey bees sense of smell helps them to find the flowers they need to collect nectar. As bees feed on the nectar inside of flowers, they get covered in pollen from the flower’s stamens. Some of this pollen will rub off on the pistil of the next flower it visits. This is how insects help flowers to pollinate. Bees store the collected nectar they get from the flowers in their special honey stomachs. When their stomachs are full of nectar they go back to the hive and regurgitate, or spit back out, the nectar into honey cells. Then they fan their wings to remove moisture. The nectar then changes and becomes honey. So bees are important, in what ways?

Bees Unit Study
Hands on learning about bees
Honey Bee Smelling Activity
The Social Lives of Bees
Bees at Climate Kids Nasa
Types of bees:

I knew that there were different types of bees, such as bumble bees, honeybees, carpenter bees, and parasitic bees, but apparently they also have nationalities!

Well, at least according to Lady Winifred Fortescue who wrote in  her 1935 book,Perfume from Provence that her friend Monsieur Pierre claimed that,

“           …a friend of his imported queen bees from Germany, Egypt, England and America, The German bees, he told me, always works overtime, and fill the cells of the comb so full of honey that it reaches and permeates the outer wax, thus spoiling the look of the sections, so that they cannot be exhibited. The Egyptian bees work well, but are fierce and uncertain of temper – mefiez-vous! The English bees work well, but only for a certain number of hours; and the American bees are brilliant but erratic, sometimes working feverishly and sometimes taking a day off.

Extraordinary, I thought, that bees should have absorbed the characteristics of their countries”(p 36)

Arts &Crafts:

Bee Craft
Beehive’s Polygon Construction
Honey butter recipe from Preschool Alphabet