Honey Bees Visit Nursery

There was a hive of activity in the 'Friendship Circle' in this afternoon as Kindergarten were treated to a wonderful visit from some beekeepers.

Grandparents to one of our children in Kindergarten, Alan and Jayne are very knowledgeable and have a clear ethos of "the art of gentle bee keeping."

They have been keeping bees for just over 4 years now and are part of the 'North Devon School of Country Beekeeping' where they have a clear ethos for sustainability and welfare of the bees, "We adopt this bee-friendly approach to hive management because we want bees to be healthy; healthy bees will prosper, prosperous bees will multiply, more bees means better pollination of our food plants and so we all benefit." http://gentlebeekeeping.org.uk

The children were so enchanted by all the resources, posters and equipment. They very proudly showed Alan and Jayne the Makaton sign for bee and answered questions showing a wealth of existing knowledge about our pollinator friends. We were really surprised to learn that bees can't see the colour red! We passed around posters and some beeswax. Some of us even dressed up in a special beekeeper's hat and we learnt all about the smoke can, (smoker), and how this can be used to calm them.

Sarah made us some toast which we dipped in the locally produced honey. It was so tasty and we said a big thank you to the bees.

The children really enjoyed themselves and we presented Alan and Jayne with a card a beautiful marigold plant. Their visit certainly has had a huge impact on the children; "the best bit was ALL OF IT!" "I had on a hat, it was a big hat." "The Queen stays in there. Laying eggs." "It was a smoker, it makes them quiet."