Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

• A copy of Leader Resource 3, Honey Parfaits
• Clear plastic glasses or parfait cups for all participants
• Spoons and butter knives for all participants
• Ingredients specified in Leader Resource 3, Honey Parfaits or required for your adaptation of the recipe
• Utensils for preparing and distributing ingredients
• Napkins and/or paper plates
• Optional: Hand sanitizer
• Optional: A honeycomb, real or plastic

Preparation for Activity

• Review and print out Leader Resource 3, Honey Parfaits.
• Optional: If you have participants who are allergic to honey or another ingredient, or vegan participants who do not eat animal products, adapt the recipe as needed.
• Gather ingredients specified in the honey parfait recipe or required for your adaptation of the recipe.
• Gather clear plastic cups, spoons, and butter knives for all participants; a knife to slice bananas; and larger spoons to distribute the honey, granola, and yogurt or pudding, or other ingredients.
• Optional: Obtain a real or plastic honeycomb.

Description of Activity

Gather the children at tables where they can prepare and eat their honey parfaits. In this activity, they will have an opportunity to manipulate and taste honey, a product of beehive activity.

Share the following with the children, in your own words. If you have a honeycomb, use it to illustrate:

In nature, bees build their own beehives. Bees can decide for themselves where to build their home. Some hives are built in trees. Some hives are built underground.

Some people build boxes or other structures and then add the bees. Then, the bees build their hives inside the boxes. After a while, the bees produce honey and the people gather some of the honey to eat and sometimes to sell. This is called beekeeping. People have been beekeeping at least as far back in time as ancient Egypt. Bees are the only insects that produce something people eat.

Even though beekeepers set up boxes and places for bees to build hives, some bees still fly away and build their hives in the wild. Some hives are built in trees. Some hives are built underground.

Not all bees make honey. Of the 20,000 species of bees, only about six or seven kinds of bees are honeybees. Bees store honey in the small cells of the honeycomb. People collect the honey from these cells.

Invite the children to taste some honey. Hand each child a spoon and let them take a small bit of honey to taste. If some are allergic to or do not eat honey, tell them that although they cannot taste the honey, they can still create a parfait.

Ask if anyone has had a parfait before. Explain that a parfait is something to eat, usually a dessert, which is made with layers of different ingredients.

Tell the children they will be making a honey parfait. Invite them to wash their hands, or pass around small bottles of hand sanitizer, while you distribute a napkin or paper plate, a half banana, a spoon, a butter knife, and a parfait glass or plastic cup to each child. Include yourself or your co-leader, so an adult can demonstrate how to make the honey parfait.

Once all have washed their hands, demonstrate how to make the parfait. Assist individuals as needed. Invite the children to eat their parfaits, and clean up.

Including All Participants

Make sure you know which children cannot eat honey or other ingredients. Adapt the parfait recipe accordingly or provide these children with alternate ingredients.