70+ Honey Bee Resources: Free Printables & Crafts

Another animal I have long since been intrigued by is the honey bee. Growing up, our next door neighbor was a beekeeper and we would watch him from our fence for hours. It was so neat to watch him pull the honeycomb out and get the honey from it. If your kids are fascinated by honey bees, or you just want to teach them about the importance of them, these free honey bee printables will come in handy to make it more fun. 

While we loved watching our neighbor tend to his bees, we didn’t have proper gear, and weren’t allowed very close. We sure loved to watch all the bees from our yard though. And the honey…oh. my. yum! We have several local beekeepers and this spring/summer we plan on visiting after we learn all about them. 

What do we learn from honey bees?

We can learn a lot of life lessons from honey bees. They can adapt to difficult situations and their environment. Bees know how to be flexible and change things if they need to. They are extremely efficient and know how to focus on one task at a time. I know I could use some help in this area.

What are five interesting facts about honey bees?

1. The honey bee is the only insect that produces food for humans.
2. Their loud buzzing noise is due to the fact that they beat their wings 1,400 times in one minute.
3. They communicate through special dance moves.
4. Bees have five eyes that are used to detect light and sense if a predator is coming for them.
5. Only females can sting. Males do not have stingers.

What are the 3 types of honey bees?

There are 3 types of bees that make up the honey bee colony.

• The queen bee is the mother of all the bees. Her only job is to lay eggs in the hive and fight off other queens to be the strongest.
• Drone bees are the male bees. Their main function is to fly out and mate with other queen bees.
• The worker bees are female bees that clean the hive and also fill it with honey. Worker bees are responsible for foraging and bringing pollen to the hive.

Honey Bee Facts and Myths

Myth – All bees sting. Fact – Male bees do not have stingers so only females can sting.

Myth – Avoid bee stings by spraying a nest with water. Fact – Water does nothing to a nest. It will probably irritate the bees to come out.

Myth – Bees are hard workers. Fact – The female bees are very hard workers. The male bees don’t do much other than mate.

Myth – Bees do not sting at night. Fact – Bees will sting anytime they feel they are threatened no matter the time of day.

Myth -Honey is not needed for bees to survive. Fact – Bees need honey to live. It is their source of energy to do their daily tasks.

Free Honey Bee Printables

Snag some fun bee-themed worksheets, activities, and other free downloads to make your study of honey bees come alive. 

Honey Bee Lapbooks

We love using lapbooks in our homeschool. They are a great way to keep track of what you are learning in a fun way.

Bee Lapbook – Make a lapbook like in this link to showcase all the new things you’ve learned about while studying bees.

Honeybee Lapbook – Learn all about honeybees, how they make honey, the life cycles of bees, and more in this free printable lapbook activity. 

The Bee Tree lapbook – Enjoy learning all about bees with this free honeybee unit study, reading list, and lapbook.

Honey Bee Lifecycle Printables

Learn about the lifecycles of bees with these fun printables, cards and resources.

Honeybee Life Cycle Cards – Print and laminate free honeybee life cycle cards to use for learning and memorizing new bee facts.

Bee Life Cycle Packet – Learn even more about the bee life cycle with these free printable worksheets and booklet.

Bee Life Cycle printables  – These free printable bee life cycle pages are perfect for kindergartners through third grade and come in English and Spanish.

Honeybee Life Cycle Printable Pack – Download this free honeybee life cycle printable pack that’s both educational and glittery.

Unit Studies on Honey Bees

We love doing unit studies in our homeschool. They are a great supplement to any homeschool.

Free Bees Unit Study – Click this link and download a full free bees unit study to go through this school year.

Honey Bee Labeling Sheets

Kids learn and remember well from diagramming and labeling things. These printable sheets will help your children with bee definitions and parts.

Label the Bee Printable – Learn definitions and label different parts of a bee and color this free printable page. 

Honey Bee Counting & Math Worksheets

Need some extra themed math help? These cute math worksheets have a fun bee theme.

Bumblebee Counting – Your preschooler will enjoy this free printable bumblebee counting activity. 

Counting Bees Printable Math Worksheets – Your kids will love learning by counting bees in these free printable math worksheets.

Printable Mini Books

Mini books are fun for younger kids to assemble. It keeps them busy with their hands while they are learning about a specific subject.

All About Bees minibook – Turn these 10 free learning pages all about bees into a minibook. This activity is perfect for your 1st through 3rd graders.

Honey Bee Emergent Readers – Print free honeybee emergent readers that include sight words, short sentences, and fill-in-the-blanks that are perfect for little ones practicing their reading skills.

Free Bee Activity Books – Download multiple free bee activity worksheets that will keep the kids busy and entertained for hours!

Honey Bee Activity Sheets & Games

I love printable packs and games that help enhance what we are learning. When the kids are working on fun activities and games it doesn’t even feel like school.

Bee Facts printable – Learn a bunch of really cool facts about bees available in this free printable.

Honeybee Activity Sheets –  Download these free printable activity sheets for kids to have fun while learning about bees. 

Bee Do-a-Dot Printables – Click this link for 20 free printable pages of bee themed d0-a-dot worksheets. Kids can practice their shapes, colors, letters, and numbers.

Bee Writing Paper – Download and print free bee themed writing pages for your students to practice writing on.

Bees Vocabulary Sheet – Choose from many different free bee related activity pages likes word searches, vocabulary sheets, coloring pages and more.

Bees Wordsearch – These honeybee themed word searches are perfect for learning new bee vocabulary and are fun for the whole family to do.

Honey Bee Tot & PreK-K Pack – This free honeybee pack comes with 29 activity pages for your preschoolers and kindergarteners.

Bees Challenge – Give your kids fun activity worksheets to do from home that go with bee themed lesson plans. 

Buzzing with “Bee” Related Compound Words – First and second graders learning compound words will enjoy these cute bee decorated worksheets.

Honey Bee Coloring and Notebooking Pages

These notebooking pages and coloring pages will be a great addition to a bee science study. They look great in an end of year portfolio or science notebook.

Honey Bee Coloring Pages – Find 4 sets of awesome free honeybee coloring pages that also include traceable letters and names for toddlers to practice writing.

Honey Bee Notebooking Pages – Download and choose from 84 free different honeybee note booking pages that will be fun for your kids to enjoy learning.

Learning about bees printables – Learn all about bees with these free printable activities that include labeling, coloring, and writing. 

Honey Bee Crafts

Bee crafts are just the cutest. You and your kids will have a lot of fun making and creating your own bees to hang up and display.

Honey Bee Kid Craft – Have fun with this bee craft making your own honeybee out of a paper plate and tissue paper.

Bee Unit Craft & Activity – Make a day out of this free bee unit craft that includes free templates and labels for learning more about bees.

Paper Mache Honeycomb Beehive – Get creative bee activity ideas from this link for your kids to enjoy like paper mache beehives and bee themed sensory bins.

Mini honeybees – Choose from 34 great bee crafts for kids to enjoy. Find the perfect bee decorating craft to go along with your studies.

Honeybee Craft – Check out this link for a full day of bee fun. Make and hang up your own bees and beehive, and bake tasty honey cookie treats for the whole family to enjoy.

Honey Bee Hands-On Activities

Hands-on activities are a great way to help immerse your children with what they are learning. This is great especially for younger.

The Honeybee Smelling Activity – Check out this link for a great hands-on activity idea to share with your kids and include in your honeybee lessons. 

Pollen Transfer Fine Motor Activity – Have your toddlers and preschoolers practice their fine motor skills with this fun bee activity where they can pretend transfer pollen from flowers to honeycombs like bees.

Honey Transfer Fine Motor Activity – Young kids can practice their fine motor skills with this fun honey transfer activity idea at home.

Honeycomb Beehives – Click this link for bee and honey activity ideas like book suggestions and recipes. 

Honeybee Games and Activities – Have fun with this creative honeybee fine motor and counting game. Make your own bees with clothes pins and pipe cleaners.

Beehives, Polygons and Comb Construction Project – In this beehives, polygon, and comb construction project, let your kids tape paper hexagons together to hang a finished honeycomb and queen bee. 

Pollination Activity – Kids will experience hands-on learning about bee pollination in this fun activity.

How to make Honeycomb – Follow this easy and yummy honeycomb recipe at home with only a few ingredients and instructions.

Sensory & Pretend Play

Kids love pretend play and sensory bins. Your kids will have enjoy the bee themed free play activities.

Bees sensory tub – Get cute and easy ideas from this link to make a bee designed sensory tub for your children to play with.

Bee Keeping Pretend Play Activity – Let your kids play pretend as a bee keeper in this fun activity. Practice what you’ve learned together about bees from your studies and go over it while playing.

20 Must Read Books About Bees

These Bees Count! by Alison Formento – This sweet counting story will take you through a honey bee farm.

Bees: Wild Reads by Robert Dawson – Learn fun facts about bees in this easy reader.

The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees by Sandra Markle – Bees are vanishing right before our eyes. Find out what is happening and why it is important.

The Buzz on Bees: Why are they Disappearing? by Shelley Rotner – This book for young readers will help your kids understand what is happening to the bees and how to protect them. 

Are You a Bee? by Judy Allen – See the world from a perspective of a bee.

The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons – Find out how bees work together to make honey.

Flight of the Honey Bee by Raymond Huber – Follow the flight of the honeybee in this story.

Busy, Buzzy Bee by Karen Wallace – Find out how bees dance in this cute easy reader.

The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci – Wonderful book for children about keeping bees.

What if there were no Bees? by Suzanne Slade – What would happen to our planet and ecosystems if we no longer had bees?

The Beeman by Laurie Krebs – Follow a full year of a beekeeper in this sweet rhyming story.

Jump in to Science: Honeybees by Deborah Heiligman – focuses on the science of honeybees and why they are essential for life.

Bee & Me by Elle J. McGuinness – Sweet board book tale of a bee and its role in nature.

The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe by Loree Griffin Burns

The Very Greedy Bee by Steve Smallman – Teach your kids how to share and not be greedy with this story.

The Honeybee Man by Lela Nargi – Fun story about a beekeeper in the middle of the city.

Buzzbee’s School Day by Grosset & Dunlap – Follow Buzzbee as he goes off to school in this cute sticker book.

Bee Dance by Rick Chrustowski – A honeybee goes off on an adventure in search of honey and comes back to tell all about it with a special dance.

The Magic School Bus: Inside a Beehive by Joanna Cole – Find out how Mrs. Frizzle and her class learn about bees in this adventure science book.

Snack Ideas for a Honey Bee Unit

We love incorporating snacks into our unit studies. Food helps everyone enjoy and remember what they are learning. You are going to love these fun ideas.

Creamed Honey – Creamed honey, also known as whipped honey, is a sweet treat to enjoy on top of toast or pancakes and is easy to make.

Honey Candied Walnuts – Enjoy this easy to follow 10 minute recipe for honey candied walnuts to eat by themselves or on top of another dessert. 

Honey Pops – The whole family will love having these honey pops at home. Follow this recipe from this link for 20 servings of honey lollipops.

Honey Ricotta Ice Cream – This rich, creamy, and simple 3 ingredient recipe for honey ricotta ice cream is sure to be a new family favorite in your house.

Milk and Honey Cupcakes – This honey cupcakes recipe with sweet honey frosting is such a sweet treat and easy to make.

Honey Bee Cookies – Check out this link for an easy honeybee cookie recipe to make maybe after a day spent learning about honeybees.

Homemade Lavender Lemonade with Honey – Enjoy this recipe for sweet, thirst quenching, homemade lavender lemonade with honey. 

Honey Bee Macaroons – Make macaroons that look like honeybees to go along with your honeybee lessons at home following this easy recipe.

Beehive Cupcakes – Make 12 adorable beehive decorated cupcakes in under 2 hours using this Betty Crocker recipe.

Three Ingredient Whipped Honey Butter – Easy to make whipped honey butter, sweet and perfect to go on top of pancakes, biscuits, or just to enjoy by itself!