Collect a wasp nest only when it endangers people who are allergic to wasp stings.
Put in a deep freezer for a few days to kill off smaller insects/bugs that will eat the nest structure. (Maybe freeze periodically if the nest is stored for an extended time - mine got eaten by something over the years.)
Look closely at the outside of the nest:
The stripes in the 'paper' are from different kinds of wood.
The wasps scrape wood from dead trees and wood structures with their strong jaws, mix the wood with their saliva into a pulp, then use it to build the nest. The coloured stripes reflect the colour of the wood used for building.
See this wasp nest built from different coloured construction paper, and how the nest builds up:
https://www.booooooom.com/2016/04/04/mattia-menchetti-gives-wasps-colou…
The architecture of the nest determines the air flow through it, which keeps it at the correct temperature for developing babies.
Look at the cells on the inside of the nest:
They are interlocking hexagonal cells. The queen wasp will lay an egg in each, which will mature into a larva, which the wasps care for with food and water to keep the humidity correct. When a larva is ready to pupate, it spins a silk cap over its cell, within which it goes through metarmorphosis. An adult wasp emerges.
Students can draw any of the real samples (nest, cells, outside 'paper').
See other shapes of wasp nests at this link:
https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/from-the-collections-posts/wond…
You tube video of nest building:
time lapse of outside of nest being built: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF25K9yg8oQ
layers of nest being added over time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cymGYvpKGOg&feature=related
half a hornet’s nest, see larvae being fed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=v4h_DIQKPPI
