It’s July 10th so this means: don’t step on a bee! Don’t Step on a Bee Day reminds us to ‘bee’ kind to these amazing pollinators. It’s a way of raising awareness of their importance and making sure we are doing as much as we can to look after them. Our little buzzy pals work relentlessly to pollinate crops and wild plants. This transferring of pollen quite literally puts food on our table. About a third of everything we eat is reliant on animal pollination.

Unfortunately, our bees are in great trouble due to intensive farming, housing developments, and pesticides. According to Greenpeace, one-third of UK bees have disappeared in the last ten years so we must work hard to protect them. We can help protect our bees by getting the whole family involved in some activities and having some fun together.

Here are our top family-friendly activities to help protect our bees:

Walking meditation

Simply set aside some time with your family to go for a relaxing walking meditation in nature. Meditation can be playful and fun. Notice your footsteps on the ground beneath you and wonder together about how the earth supports and nourishes us all so well. Kids can also connect with the sounds of the outside in our Exploring Nature Moshi playlist in the app. Moshi Forest Walk and Pip’s Enchanted Stroll in Snufflepeep Forest are beautifully relaxing nature meditations to soothe children into a restful state of mind. Don’t Step on a Bee Day is a great way to teach our kids to never step on a bee by being careful of where we put our feet. If you see a bee struggling on your nature walk, pop them onto a bee-friendly flower.

Plant bee-friendly flowers

A beautifully colorful garden will entice these minibeasts. Bees love a runway so try planting open flowers with a platform to land on. Gardening with kids is a fantastic way of helping the whole family get fresh air and connect with nature. Children love getting their hands in the dirt and are curious about how things grow. Smelling the different scents and listening to the gentle buzzing sound of bees can also be great for mindfulness. Bees can see some colors and love violet, yellow and blue so have a look in your local garden center for these bee-friendly shades. Lavender, marigolds, primrose, buddleja, and wildflowers are some of the best plants for bees.  Also, try planting flowers that bloom at different times of the year so they have food to eat for a longer period and as always avoid using pesticides as these can be harmful.  

Make some bee bombs

This is a super fun activity for kids. A bee bomb is just a mixture of peat-free compost, clay, and flower seeds. Mix five cups of clay, one cup of bee-friendly flower seeds, two cups of compost, and one and a half cups of water. Roll the sticky mixture into balls and then leave them to dry for one to two days. When they are dry, get throwing! Spaces with exposed soil in the garden or abandoned areas of nature are best. During your walking meditation, you could even take your seed bombs to rewild your local area. This provides a great learning opportunity as you can teach your child the importance of bees and why this is such a worthwhile activity. If you wanted to take things further and get extra crafty, you could even try building a bee house with Friends of Earth.

Read a bug-friendly bedtime story

We love the power of storytelling at Moshi. Our meditations are full of engaging stories for children. So when I heard of this lovely book Betsy Buglove Saves the Bees by Catherine Jacob and Lucy Fleming, I was smitten. It has lots of fun illustrations and a perfect rhyme for young children. It’s an entertaining way for kids to appreciate minibeasts and get them out in the garden searching for these amazing little creatures.

Samantha Redgrave-Hogg