Things to say to a seven-year-old
In the Mojave Desert, the bright yellow desert gold flowers open wide in the sunshine. They look like little suns shining across the sand. Bees love to visit, buzzing from one bloom to the next, sipping sweet nectar and rolling in golden pollen.
As the sun sinks low, the flowers start to close their petals. It’s bedtime for desert gold. But sometimes, a bee is still inside. When the petals fold shut, the bee is tucked in—safe and snug in a soft bed of pollen. The flower becomes a tiny motel room just for bees.
On windy nights, the motel isn’t always calm. The flower sways and shakes, tossing the bee about like a boat on stormy water. That’s what makes it “wild” life. But even if it gets bumpy, the bee is better off inside than out in the cold desert night.
Bees are hard workers with a wonderful work ethic. They don’t even leave the job when it’s time to rest. They sleep right at work, in golden beds of pollen. And when the morning sun warms the desert and the flowers open again, the bees are already up and ready—buzzing off to do their important work all over again.
