Make a Beel Hotel

A few years ago, my husband built some garden boxes, and that’s when we really started paying attention to pollinators – how many we had, whether they had enough native plants on which to feed, and whether there were enough water sources for them during the extreme heat of our southern summers. We have put out water dishes for the bees and learned how to make a bee hotel too.

Bees in our own backyard are fascinating to watch, with many lessons wrapped up in their behavior.

One of those lessons was learning how to make a bee hotel with our kids. In this activity, we’ll walk you through a project we did, but first, here are some photos taken in our yard.

In this first photo, the bee is hunting for pollen! (Yay! That meant we’d soon have some cantaloupe fruit growing.) But did you also know that male bees do not spend the night in the hive. They will actually find a cool, safe place to sleep. We have found bees sleeping inside squash blooms.

make a bee hotel activity - photo of bee in flower

The bee in the photo to the right is STRUGGLING. You can see the bee’s tongue is sticking out. We snapped this photo on a 98-degree day with HIGH humidity.

When their tongue is sticking out, the bee is in distress either from the heat or poison. He was actually positioned in a thick stand of zinnia plants and was burrowed down in the shade of the leaves. Since we are organic gardeners, we figured that most likely he was suffering from the heat.

This is why we leave bright colored, shallow dishes in our garden with water and rocks. We have spotted bees and butterflies visiting these dishes from time to time, so they do work!

In this photo, you can see the bee hanging onto the flower and drinking deeply from this milkweed!

Learn MUCH more about bees in our free bees and insects printable pack. You can request it by filling out the form at the bottom of this post.

Make a Bee Hotel Activity for Kids

So, onto our bee hotel project. This is a version for kids; there are other ways to make these with wooden materials. However, we were using what we had on hand and was age appropriate.

Not all bees live in large bee hives. In fact, there are several types of solitary bees. After doing some research we decided to make a simple solitary bee home to invite Mason Bees, who are solitary bees.

A bee hotel is like a birdhouse in that bees seek refuge from predators and the weather.

Make a bee hotel instructions:

Remove all labeling from the can.
Fit as many straws into the tin can as possible, without squeezing any of the straws.
Insert one straw into the tin can, and mark on the straw where the tin can ends.
Cut the straw at the mark from step 3. Measure each straw against the cut straw and cut them to match.
Pour a copious amount of glue into the bottom of the tin can, enough to cover the bottom completely.
Insert all the straws back into the tin can and leave vertical until the glue dries.
Insert a few thin sticks between some straws. Cut the sticks to be approximately the same length as the straws.
Hot glue sticks from Step 7.
Measure and cut an 18″ piece of string. Fold the string in half and tie a knot to join the two ends together.
Place the tin can in the middle of the string, and hot glue the string to 3/4 of the diameter of the can.
Hang your bee home in a stable location and watch for a bee to make a home in it.

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I hold a master’s degree in child development and early education and am working on a post-baccalaureate in biology. I spent 15 years working for a biotechnology company developing IT systems in DNA testing laboratories across the US. I taught K4 in a private school, homeschooled my children, and have taught on the mission field in southern Asia. For 4 years, I served on our state’s FIRST Lego League tournament Board and served as the Judging Director. I own thehomeschoolscientist and also write a regular science column for Homeschooling Today Magazine. You’ll also find my writings on the CTCMath blog. Through this site, I have authored over 50 math and science resources.