The Power of Pollination
Did you know that bees are responsible for almost one in every three bites of food we eat?
Bees are clever creatures and play a vital role in our food chain. Help your tamariki to learn about pollination with these two fun activities we are sharing from the Garden to Table Power of Pollination school resource.
Now that the weather is warming up and pollinators are coming out of their winter resting phase, there’s no better time to explore these activities - be sure to let us know how you get along via Facebook or Instagram.
The Waggle Dance
Did you know that bees communicate by dancing?
A honeybee returns to the hive with information about a source of nectar, how good it is and how abundant as well as what direction and how far away it is. They communicate this to other foraging bees by dancing in a figure of eight pattern when they return to the hive.
Do the waggle dance at your place:
The waggle dance works best if you have 4-20 children involved. Ask one child to leave the room while the dance is set up. While they are gone, hide an agreed treasure (use a bee toy or flower if you have one) somewhere in the room. When you are ready invite the child back into the room.
The child who hid the item should be the lead waggle dancer. They need to lead the other child to the treasure by using the waggle dance. They should dance in a figure of eight, really shaking their body/waggling when they reach the mingle line of the 8. The middle line of their figure eight should be pointing to where the treasure is hidden. If the treasure is far away then the waggling should be slow. Waggle fast if the treasure is close.
When the treasure is found, the activity could be repeated with new waggle dancers and seekers. It’s fun to play music during the dancing too!
Positive Pollen
Have fun investigating how static electricity helps pollen to move from flower to bee and bee to flower
Did you know that when a bee moves it’s wings during flight, it builds a positive charge - just like the static electricity your body builds up when you rub a balloon against your hair.
The air around a flower is negatively charged. When a bee lands on a flower, the positively charged pollen on the bee’s body is attracted to the flower stigma, while the negatively charged pollen on the flower’s stamens is attracted to the bee’s body.
Simulate how this works using the experiment below.
You will need:
Empty CD case
Paper dots from a hole punch (pollen)
Coloured paper flower
Balloon (or another way to make static electricity, e.g comb) - the bee
Put your paper flower in the base of your CD case.
Put the paper dots from the hole punch into the CD case on top of the flower. Close the case
Now generate some static electricity to positively ‘charge’ your bee. Rub the balloon on your head.
Move the balloon (the bee) over the CD case. Watch the paper (the pollen) move towards the positive charge.
Scientists say that bees can detect the change in the air around the flower. Flowers that have already been pollinated and have had their nectar foraged have a stronger positive charge. That way bees know that flower has less nectar and can choose another flower to forage from. Isn’t nature bee-autiful!
These activities are part of a bigger resource that was shared with all Garden to Table schools, to help students grow their understanding of pollination, explore what life is like as a pollinator, and take action to look after the pollinators in our gardens and neighbourhoods.
Thank you so much to our partner, Manuka Doctor New Zealand, for supporting us to produce these resources.
Manuka Doctor produce quality Mānuka honey and also offer naturally inspired, scientifically enhanced skin care formulations that are refined, concentrated and 100% bee friendly - and we are so grateful to have their support.