What happens when you give a six-year-old a BeeHome with the matching book for Christmas? Our editor Kirsten tried it out – and the whole family was amazed.
Wild Bee Fun for Young & Old
Valentin can tell you more about bees than many adults. "They are very important for nature because they pollinate flowers. Then fruits can grow there," gushes the bright second-grader. And he can tell you much more: that only honey bees make honey, that most wild bees sleep through winter, that they don't sting at all...
Perhaps Valentin would only know half as much about insects if a year earlier there hadn't been a special gift under the Christmas tree: a BeeHome Observer with the book "What do bees actually do in winter?". The wild bee house with the explorer drawer remained in the box until the first spring sun, but Silke Ottow's book had made Valentin curious about the little pollination heroes. Reading aloud with Mom and Dad, he and his then two-year-old sister Antonia accompanied the little book heroine Lina on her journey through the exciting world of bees. The bee knowledge didn't just stick with the children: "I already knew a lot from editing many wild bee texts. But with the book, I learned a lot of new things," says Valentin's mother Kirsten, who also wanted to make a small contribution to wild bees with the BeeHome gift.
Everyone loves the harmless wild bees
The theory from the winter weeks was very practical. Because when Kirsten and her husband Ingolf ordered the mason bee cocoons for the family BeeHome on the south balcony in March, they and the children already knew a lot about the life of wild bees. It was twice as much fun to watch the beautiful hummers at work: as they fly to their nesting tube laden with pollen and then crawl in, first forwards, then backwards. It's good that Valentin and his sister could always check with the explorer drawer to see what was happening inside the nesting tube.
Dad Ingolf was initially skeptical: "Before, I always fled the balcony when a bee came. Since we have the BeeHome, I go out especially to get a closer look at the wild bees." What Ingolf particularly likes about wild bees is that they don't disturb his meal at all. "I wouldn't have thought it. But they leave you completely alone."
Gift idea for children is a hit
Kirsten's sister's family was also quickly enthusiastic about the BeeHome Observer. Kirsten and Ingolf had given it to them for Christmas at the same time. "My sister probably wouldn't have bought a nesting aid herself, but now everyone there is also fired up about wild bees," Kirsten happily reports.
And Valentin? He can't wait for his wild bees to buzz around the BeeHome and the flowers again in spring. The family has specially planted the balcony with insect-friendly flowers for their protégés. In the meantime, the young animal lover continues to soak up knowledge: his pile of insect and animal books is growing ever larger.
