Today is World Bee Day!

To help celebate this beeautiful occasion, listen and read-along with this bee-tastic poem by, Candice Marley Conner.

There Was a Wee Witch Who Turned Into a Bee!

There was a wee witch who turned into a bee.

Why a bee? Don’t ask me! Perhaps we’ll see.

There was a wee witch who wiggled and danced.

She wiggled and danced, and wore pollen pants.

She wore pollen pants when she found the sweet flowers.

She found the sweet flowers dodging summer rain showers.

She dodged summer showers to sip up the nectar.

She sipped up the nectar because she’s a collector.

She’s a nectar collector so she can spit in the comb.

She spit in the comb once she flew her way home.

She flew her way home to make the gold honey,

that was sticky and sweet and the best kind of sunny.

The sweet sunny honey she spooned into the tea,

that boiled and bubbled in a cup just for me.

There was a wee witch who turned into a bee.

Why a bee? Now we see—it’s time for tea!

THE END

Did You Know?

May 20^th is World Bee day! It’s when honey bee enthusiasts celebrate these hard-working insects and recognize their buzz-worthy contributions to our everyday lives by spreading awareness to protect this critical species.

An average bee makes a 12^th of a TEASPOON of honey in her entire lifespan.

Honey bees live in colonies made up of a Queen who has the babies, the female workers who keep the hive clean and well-stocked with pollen and honey, and the male drones who contribute genetic material.

A bee can only sting once, and she dies soon after. So she really doesn’t want to sting you. If you don’t swat at her, the scouting bee may just think you’re a flower and will soon buzz off.

Bees are very important pollinators and without them, we wouldn’t have lots of yummy things to eat, like almonds, blueberries, cherries, cucumbers, and much more. Even milk, cheese, and yogurt relies on bees due to the fact that they pollinate the alfalfa that dairy cows eat!

Honey is created when worker honey bees collect nectar and store it in a specialized second stomach called the honey crop to transport it back to the hive. The nectar mixes with enzymes in the honey crop to create honey. That’s why some jokingly call honey ‘bee spit’ or ‘bee vomit’ but the nectar never actually enters the bees’ food stomach.

How can you celebrate our winged friends on World Bee Day?

Plant pollinator-friendly flowers such as sunflowers, bee balm, lantana, zinnias, and snapdragons! Research with a parent or guardian to find out what grows best in your zone.

Say “thank you, bees!” out loud every time you eat food pollinated by bees. You’ll be surprised to discover how many foods exist thanks to bees, and you’ll be sharing your knowledge and educating the people around you, too.

Code a bee dance! Hide a treasure for a sibling or friends, and create a wiggly dance that tells them how to find it. Just like worker bees do to tell their sister bees where to find flowers.

About the Author

Candice Marley Conner thinks bees are, well, the bees knees. She is the kidlit haint at a haunted indie bookstore (but not haunted how you’re thinking), a Local Liaison for SCBWI, and an officer for her local writer’s guild. Her short stories and poems are in various anthologies and magazines including Smarty Pants Magazine for Kids, Highlights Hello, Cabinet of Curiosities, Babybug, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and more. She is the author of the picture books CHOMPSEY CHOMPS BOOKS and SASSAFRAS AND HER TEENY TINY TAIL, as well as a YA Southern mystery, THE EXISTENCE OF BEA PEARL. She lives in Alabama with her husband and two children (one of whom is possibly feral, and definitely a velociraptor).