Master beekeeper showing a glass observation hive to schoolchildren gathered around a classroom table

Schools & youth groups

School bee visits for ages 5–18.

A sealed observation hive and hands-on materials bring a real colony into your classroom. Each session is matched to the students' age and curriculum.

$150 half-session · $250 half day · $400 full day. Travel may be extra.

Book a class visit Download school brochure (PDF)

A real colony, at eye level, in your room.

Mark brings live bees behind glass, empty comb to hold and bee gear to try on. Children see how bees live, why they visit flowers and how we care for them. Each visit fits the children’s age.

Sessions run in classrooms, libraries, scout halls and community centres across Princeton and the Similkameen Valley, and we travel to Vancouver, Kelowna and the Okanagan and beyond — travel is quoted on top of the session fee. Booking, dates and group sizes are handled on the in-class booking page.

Safety & logistics

Observation hive is fully sealed — no loose bees, enclosed viewing; outdoor bee visits still carry sting risk.
Allergy and EpiPen protocols confirmed with staff before arrival.
First-aid kit on site; tasting is always opt-in.
Needs one table, floor space and roughly 15 minutes to set up.

Curriculum fit

Maps to BC Science big ideas on life cycles, ecosystems, biodiversity and sustainability, plus Applied Design and Food Studies at the senior grades. Teachers get the outcome list ahead of the visit for their own planning.

Age ranges & learning outcomes

What children learn at each age

Choose the age group closest to your class. Mark adapts the visit for mixed ages.

Ages 5–7 · K–Grade 2

Meet the bees

Session length · 45–60 minutes

Name the three bees in a colony — queen, worker, drone
Find the queen in the observation hive with a guide
Explain in their own words why bees visit flowers
Practise calm, safe behaviour around a hive

Ages 8–10 · Grades 3–5

How a colony works

Session length · 60–75 minutes

Trace the life cycle from egg to capped brood on real comb
Read a frame: brood, pollen, nectar and capped honey
Connect pollination to food they ate this week
Describe one job a beekeeper does in each season

Ages 11–13 · Grades 6–8

The superorganism

Session length · 75–90 minutes

Explain the hive as one organism holding 35 °C brood temperature
Interpret the waggle dance as distance-and-direction data
Run a simplified LISTEN observation — Look, Inspect, Sound, Touch, Evaluate, Navigate
Take the first steps of the 5-Point Scorecard — six outside-first checks, no tearing the brood nest open

Ages 14–18 · Grades 9–12

Field science & careers

Session length · 90 minutes–half day

Score a colony against the 4H standard — Happy, Healthy, Heavy, Harmony
Run a full five-area 5-Point Scorecard and explain what the score says — HiveVerity, read the hive and prove the story
Debate local pollinator pressures in the Similkameen Valley
Map pathways into apiculture, agriculture and food science

Children pointing at live honeybees on comb inside a wooden glass observation hive beside a smoker and hive tool — The observation hive travels in a hard case and sits on a single classroom table.

What they'll use

Props on the table

Glass observation hive — A framed, fully sealed two-frame colony. Live bees, brood and the queen, safe behind glass — no veils required, nothing gets out.
Real drawn comb & capped honey frames — Bee-free frames students can hold: worker brood, drone cells, pollen bands and capped honey, so they see the pattern up close.
Kid-sized veils and jackets — A rotating set students try on, plus gloves and a hive tool to handle.
Cold smoker & beekeeper kit — An unlit smoker, hive tool, frame grip and uncapping fork demonstrated hands-on.
Hive box cutaway — A deep box, frames, queen excluder and lid, assembled and taken apart by the class in order.
Pollen, wax and honey tasting flight — Single-yard Princeton honey, raw pollen and beeswax — smell and taste, with allergy protocols confirmed in advance.
Waggle-dance floor map — A printed forage map students walk to dance directions to a nectar source.
Take-home field cards — One card per student: the three bees, the seasons, and how to plant for pollinators.

Want a different way to learn? Free online kids’ lessons · Visit Mark at the apiary

Next step

Pick a date for your group

Choose a visit date, tell us your group size and how long you have us for. Mark confirms from the yard within two days.

Open the in-class booking