Hands on Tauranga offers students stimulating and original learning opportunities with real museum objects that support the New Zealand curriculum at primary and secondary school level.
Did you know that a third of the food we eat is the result of pollination by bees and other insects? This new book from local Tauranga author Rachel Weston uses images, illustrations and diagrams to help your ākonga learn all about New Zealand's 28 species of native bees.
About the book >
"New Zealand’s 28 species of native bees are teeny-tiny and super speedy. Kiwi bees pollinate Aotearoa’s native plants and trees.
Most people are not aware that New Zealand has native bees. Author Rachel Weston is thrilled and honoured to introduce Aotearoa’s gentle little bees. With 36 stunning photographic images, fun illustrations, diagrams and QRvideo clips of native bees zipping and zooming, Kiwi Bees Have Tiny Knees is an informative, interactive visual feast.
Kiwi Bees Have Tiny Knees connects children to the world around them, where native bees, ngaro huruhuru, have had a long evolutionary history with New Zealand’s unique heritage – they are a taonga!"
Teaching and learning resources
Reading > Connected Level 2 2012 > https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/2797-the-buzz-of-bees
Teaching resources > https://apinz.org.nz/bee-aware-month-resources/
Date published: 2024
Text: Rachel Weston
Illustrations: Weston Books Ltd
subject area: Science
subject themes: Bees, Aotearoa, Te Taiao, the Environment, biology, sustainability,
handling collection number: HC280
House of Science related kit link > 'What's the Buzz? / He Aha Tērā Huhu?'
Bumble bees like you’ve never seen them before! Students examine preserved bumblebees focusing on the structure and function of their body parts, they learn about the interesting lifecycle of the bumblebee, their preferred habitat, and compare and contrast the differences between bumblebees and honeybees. By exploring how we see colour they will investigate how flowers have evolved to attract bumblebees and other pollinators. Children observe and discuss the relationship between sound and vibration. And finally, the children will have the opportunity to construct their own bumblebee nest.
