A little honey article for your little one.

Kids just love honey, but they often think that the sweet liquid simply comes from the grocery shops. This article helps adults explain to their little ones (3-6+) what honey really is, where it comes from, and the goodness it brings in a simple language young children would be able to appreciate.

What is honey? Honey is a sweet syrup bees make for their food. They make honey from the nectar of flowering plants. Nectar is the sweet juice in the centre of a flower. Honey is good for us to eat!

How bees make honey? Long time ago, people collected honey from the nests which wild bees make in tree holes. Later, people found that bees would bring their nectar to a wooden nest made by humans. This is called a hive.

Bees suck up flower nectar with their long tube called proboscis. At their hive, they hold the nectar in their stomachs. This turns the nectar into a sticky liquid called honey. A special wax called beeswax come from the bodies of bees. Bees shape the beeswax into six-sided cells to form honeycomb. They then put the honey into the honeycomb. They also put beeswax lids on these honeycomb cells to stop the honey from coming out.

Collecting Honey Most honey is made in big honey farms. People who keep bees for their honey are called beekeepers. They keep their hives near the flower fields.

Bees mostly make honey in spring and summer when there are lots of flowers. They eat some of this honey and keep the rest in their nests for winter. Bees make much more honey than they need so beekeepers can take a lot of the honey for people to eat. Beekeepers collect honey in the spring. They wear special clothes to protect themselves from bee bites. They take the honeycombs out from the hives. Before they can get the honey, they have to scrape the beeswax lids off the honey comb. This is called uncapping.

A special machine called an extractor takes the honey out of the honeycombs. The machine spins the honeycombs around very fast to make all the honey come out. The honey is then passed through a net with tiny holes to make it clean and clear. The honey drips through the holes and any small bits of beeswax are left in the net. Machines pour the liquid honey into jars. Lids are put on the jars to keep the honey fresh. Labels on the jars tell the people who are going to buy what kind of honey is in the jar. Every year, beekeepers sell millions and millions of jars of honey.

Different Kinds of Honey There are hundreds of different kinds of honey in the world. The colour, taste, and smell of honey depend on the kind of flowers the bees visit. Every kind of flower has a different nice smell. When bees make honey from a type of flower, this nice smell becomes part of the honey. Liquid honey is cooled in a special way to make it thick and creamy. You can spread cream honey on bread or toast like butter. You can also use it as a topping for yoghurt or pudding.

Honey is Good for You Honey is a carbohydrate. This means it is a kind of food that gives us energy to walk, run, think and play. Honey contains vitamins. Vitamins help to keep us healthy. Honey is very good for us, so it is used in lots of things we buy in the shops. People use honey in breakfast cereal, cakes, biscuits, barbeque meats, and even shampoos and cough medicines.

By Tan R. http://www.benefits-of-honey.com All Copyrights Reserved. 2006