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  • Explore Topics

    Explore topics

    Discover 24 topics for reading, exploring, and learning about our world. You'll find great fiction and nonfiction books, hands-on activities, writing ideas, and kid-friendly websites and apps for each topic.

    Visit the Explore Topics Overview
    • Explore Topics Overview
    • Art and Artists
    • Bugs, Birds and Animals
    • Builders and Buildings
    • Civics and Our Government
    • Cooking and Food
    • Detectives and Explorers
    • Dinosaurs
    • Family and Community
    • Flight
    • Folktales, Fairy Tales and Myths
    • Geography, Travel and Cultures
    • Heroes and Superheroes
    • Homes and Habitats
    • Inventions and Inventors
    • Math and Measuring
    • Money
    • Music and Musicians
    • Nature: Our Green World
    • Oceans, Rivers and Ponds
    • Poetry
    • Sports and the Olympics
    • Stars, Planets and the Night Sky
    • Time and Time Travel
    • Weather
  • Toolkits & Guides

    Toolkits and Guides

    Explore our free, downloadable toolkits and guides to enrich summer and afterschool learning at home or through youth programs. You'll find booklists, hands-on activities, and links to multimedia resources that extend children's learning about the world.

    Visit the Toolkits & Guides Overview
    • Toolkits & Guides Overview
    • Weather Wonders
    • Tune In!
    • Bird Buddies
    • Space Rangers
    • River Rangers
    • Trailblazers
    • We Are Storytellers
    • Our Democracy
  • Active Reading

    Active Reading

    Reading together is a conversation! Encourage questions, make predictions, visualize the story, and talk about new words you encounter as you read together.

    Visit the Active Reading Overview
    • Active Reading Overview
    • Reading Aloud
    • Choosing and Using Kids’ Books
    • Reading Fluency
    • Vocabulary and Word Play
    • Parent Tips for Reading, Writing, and Learning
  • Writing
  • Background Knowledge
  • Summer Learning

DIY Science Camp: Bees

boy looking through magnifying glass at a bee
Thanks to bees, we have many good foods to eat. While bees are out collecting nectar, they’re also moving pollen from flower to flower — to help grow the important fruit and vegetable crops we eat. Learn more about these fascinating insects!

close-up of young boy using magnifying glass to examine a flower and bee

Download sample activity schedule and books >

  • Hands-on activities
  • Fiction and nonfiction books
  • Summer writing
  • Recommended websites for kids
  • Recommended apps for kids

Hands-on activities

boy cutting fruit and there is a blender
Bee Thankful Smoothie
photo of a flowering plant
Plant a Bee Garden
illustration of the hexagons of a bee hive
Hexagon Hunt
a drawing of a bee and flower and text "Bees store the nectar in their honey sacs and take it back to the bee hive".
How Bees Make Honey
Bee Hummer

Fiction and nonfiction books

cover of "Bees, Snails, and Peacock Tails" showing a peacock
Bees, Snails & Peacock Tails
cover of "Flight of the Honey Bee" showing bees in flight
Flight of the Honey Bee
cover of "The Bee Tree" showing young girl looking over man's shoulder. He has a jar of bees.
The Bee Tree
cover of "The Bee-Man of Orn" showing a man moving beehives
The Bee-Man of Orn
photo cover of The Buzz on Bees showing bee against blue sky
The Buzz on Bees: Why Are They Disappearing?
illustrated cover of the Honey Maker showing a bee and flowers
The Honey Makers
illustrated cover of "The Honeybee Man" showing a man in a bee keeper's outfit
The Honeybee Man
illustrated cover of The Life and Times of the Honeybee showing a hive and bees
The Life and Times of the Honeybee
cover of "The Lifecycle of a Honeybee" showing a bee surrounded by some hive illustrations
The Life Cycle of a Honeybee
cover of "The Magic School Bus" showing a school bus that looks like a bee
The Magic School Bus: Inside a Beehive
illustrated cover of "What if there were no bees?" showing flowers and bees
What If There Were No Bees?
cover of "Winter Bees" showing a bee and a fox jumping in the snow
Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold

Find more books about Bugs, Birds and Animals >

Summer writing

  • Bee Poetry
  • Daily Bee Newspaper
  • Keep a Nature Journal

Recommended websites for kids

  • Bee "Waggle Dance" (PBS Nova)
  • Buzz About Bees
  • Amazing Bees

Recommended apps for kids

  • Meet the Insects: Water & Grass Edition

Reading Rockets is a national multimedia project that offers best-practice information on teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle. Sign up for our newsletter.

Start with a Book received the 2020 Parents' Choice Silver Award for Best Websites.

Parents' Choice Silver Award

Start with a Book, a summer reading program of Reading Rockets, is made possible with major support from the Park Foundation, Inc. and generous support from the National Education Association.

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  • About Us
  • The Importance of Summer Reading
  • For Parents: How to Use Start with a Book
  • For Program Staff: How to Use Start with a Book
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  • Visit Our Sister Sites
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  • Science, Nature, and Math Topics
    • Bugs, Birds and Animals
    • Dinosaurs
    • Flight
    • Geography, Travel and Cultures
    • Homes and Habitats
    • Inventions and Inventors
    • Math and Measuring
    • Money
    • Nature: Our Green World
    • Oceans, Rivers and Ponds
    • Stars, Planets and the Night Sky
    • Time and Time Travel
    • Weather
  • Social Studies Topics
    • Builders and Buildings
    • Civics and Our Government
    • Cooking and Food
    • Detectives and Explorers
    • Families and Communities
    • Heroes and Superheroes
    • Sports and the Olympics
  • Art, Music, and Literature Topics
    • Art and Artists
    • Folktales, Fairy Tales and Myths
    • Music and Musicians
    • Poetry
  • Active Reading
    • Reading Aloud
    • Choosing and Using Kids’ Books
    • Background Knowledge
    • Reading Fluency
    • Vocabulary and Word Play
  • Writing Ideas for Kids
  • Hands-On Science
    • Weather Wonders
    • Bird Buddies
    • River Rangers
    • Space Rangers
    • Literacy in the Sciences
    • DIY Science Camp

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Original illustrations for Start with a Book by Mal Jones