Summer Adventure > Kitchen Corner > Bees: The Superhero Pollinators! (Grades K-5)
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Bees: The Superhero Pollinators! (Grades K-5)

Bees to the rescue! Pollination is a superpower unlike any other. In this activity, you can see bees hard at work making honey and then try our recipe to make a sweet summer treat!

Bees are vital to the food chain. These amazing insects pollinate much of the crops that humans and animals depend on for food (like apples, broccoli and almonds). When bees collect pollen and nectar as food to bring back to their colony they pollinate plants. Pollination is required for a crop to produce its fruit or vegetable. Pollination is also responsible for the production of seeds and for many plants to reproduce. 

A special superpower of the honey bee is making honey! Honey is made from nectar, which bees harvest when they land on flowers. Bees bring the nectar back to the hive where it undergoes a complex transformation.

In the video below Denise LaRocque, a graphic artist at Capital Region BOCES, checks her personal hive for honey production and shows us how to expand the hive to give the bees more room.

There are many surprising health benefits of honey and it’s delicious. It can be used in a variety of recipes – as a sweetener in place of sugar – like this one for Honey-Yogurt Popsicles.

honey-yogurt popsicles on a plate

What You Need

To make 8 popsicles:

  • 2 cups of plain yogurt (Greek or regular)
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 1/3 cup of honey
  • 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
  • 1/4 lb. cherries, pitted and quartered
  • 1/4 cup of blueberries
  • Popsicle molds and popsicle sticks 
    (If you don’t have them, try using plastic cups and plastic spoons instead.)

What To Do

  1. In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, milk, honey and vanilla extract. Taste the mixture and add a little more honey if needed.
  2. Divide half the fruit among 8  ½ cup popsicle holders.
  3. Add ¼ cup of the yogurt mixture to each popsicle holder, then add the rest of the fruit. You’ll need to press the fruit down a bit to distribute it evenly in the popsicle.
  4. Top off with more yogurt mixture if needed, leaving at least ¼ inch of space at the top of the popsicle holder because it will expand as it freezes.
  5. Freeze the popsicles for several hours, until completely solid.