A Bee Visits a Flower
On a sunny day in a garden, a fuzzy bee flies toward a bright flower. The bee is looking for food. Inside the flower, there is a sweet liquid called nectar. The bee uses its long tongue to take a sip of this tasty drink.
While the bee sips, its fuzzy body brushes against the middle of the flower. This part holds tiny yellow dust called pollen. Pollen sticks to the bee's hairs and legs. The bee collects some of this pollen to eat later. In hives, honeybees also use nectar to make honey. But not every kind of bee makes honey. Some bees live alone and only gather food for their own nests.
Soon, the bee is full and flies to another flower of the same kind. When it lands, some of the pollen on its body rubs off onto the new blossom. Moving pollen from one flower to another is called pollination.
This simple visit helps the plant in a big way. Many plants need pollen from another blossom to make new seeds. In many flowering plants, pollination helps seeds and fruit grow. Not all plants need bees to move pollen. Some plants use the wind or other insects instead. Still, when a bee visits a flower, both the insect and the plant get what they need to thrive.
- nectar:
- A sweet liquid made by flowers that insects drink for food.
- pollen:
- Fine yellow dust produced by flowers that helps them make seeds.
- pollination:
- The movement of pollen from one flower to another.
- blossom:
- A flower on a plant or tree.
- thrive:
- To grow strong, healthy, and successful.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What is the bee looking for in the garden?
- 2What sweet drink does the bee find inside the flower?
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About this explanatory article passage for 2nd Grade
“A Bee Visits a Flower” is a explanatory article reading passage about Pollination, written for 2nd Grade. It takes about 1 minute to read (221 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.