Beekeeping can be a lifetime hobby for lifelong learners. The 4-H Beekeeping project manuals are not activity-based; rather they are a guide to help young people learn while working with a facilitator. This 3-part curriculum series takes youth from setting up a hive to honey production to growing the colony. These are free downloads from Purdue and Shop4-H.

• Learning about Bees, Level 1—This level introduces bees and beekeeping and helps prepare youth to set up their own hive. (Grades 3-5)
• 4-H Beekeeping Division I: Understanding the Honey Bee—Division I, Understanding the Honey Bee, covers information on the basic facts of beekeeping: the types of bees, the honey and wax they produce, the plants that attract bees, and the equipment a beekeeper needs. In the first year, youth are not required to have any bees, but prepare to take care of a honey bee colony of their own.
• Working with Honey Bees, Level 2—This level helps youth as they acquire a colony and learn how to care for their beehive throughout the year. It also introduces basic beekeeping operations, resulting in the production of extracted, chunk, or cut comb honey. (Grades 6-8)
• 4-H Beekeeping Division II: Working With Honey Bees—In Division II, Working with Honey Bees, youth acquire a colony of bees and learn how to care for their beehive throughout the year. This includes basic beekeeping operations that result in the production of extracted, chunk, or cut comb honey. 
• Advanced Beekeeping, Level 3—Level 3 includes more detail and introduces topics such as increasing the number of your honey bee colonies, increasing honey production, producing special kinds of honey, managing disease, and more about bee societies. (Grades 9-12)
• Advanced Beekeeping Methods—Youth will continue to develop your skills as a beekeeper. Good beekeepers not only care for their colonies, but also manage them to increase honey production.
• Beekeeping Curriculum: Facilitator’s Guide—Find supports and guidance for the facilitator to encourage youth to learn in this project.

Audience: Grades 3-12

Note: These resources are free digital downloads. The “Level” books are youth curriculum, while the “Division” books provide supplemental information.