POLLINATION GAME

Teaching aims behind the game:

  • To understand the importance of wild flowers for bees and other pollinating / nectar feeding insects and links in the food web.
  • To demonstrate how management of grassland habitats can be both beneficial and harmful. Improved and unimproved grassland

Age group: KS1 (years 1-2); 5-7 years old

KS2 (years 3-6); 8-11 years old

Equipment:

2 x “Bee hives”

Laminated flowers [two colours]

2 x bottles of coloured water [e.g. red and blue]

Plastic cups [large and small]

Pipettes / droppers [long and short]

2 x margarine tubs

2 x measuring jars

Metre ruler

Setting up the game:

The game is laid out on the play area;

  • There are two teams or “hives” Hive “A” and Hive “B”
  • Place the beehives at one end of the play area about 10 metres apart
  • Place 6 laminated flowers of one colour in line with one of the beehives [Hive A]
  • Place a smallplastic cup in the middle of each laminated flower
  • Put a little coloured water [one colour only] in the cups
  • Place a margarine tub and a longpipette in front of the beehive
  • Place 4 laminated flowers of the other colour in line with the second bee hive [Hive B] - this time however the flowers should be placed further away from the beehive
  • Place a largeplastic cup in the middle of each laminated flower
  • Put a little coloured water [second colour] in the cups
  • Place a margarine tub and shortpipette in front of the beehive

Game layout:

Pla

Playing the game:

  • The group is divided into two teams - each team lines up behind a beehive
  • The children are told that they are bees and they have to go and collect nectar from the flowers
  • At this point demonstrate how to use the pipette
  • The first bee picks up a pipette and runs to the flowers [only the flowers in front of their hive] - they then collect nectar from the cups using the pipette and run back to their hive
  • On return to hive they empty the nectar into the margarine tub
  • The returning bee goes to the back of the hive, passing the pipette to the next bee in line
  • The game continues until all the bees have collected nectar and put it in the margarine tub
  • Each hive brings their nectar to be measured to an adult
  • The nectar is poured [carefully] into each teams measuring jar and a quick visual check reveals the winning hive
  • The teams then swap hives and the game is repeated as above

Follow up:

The game is heavily loaded in favour of one team i.e. the one with more flowers, nearer to the hive and with longer pipettes. The “bees” from this team are collecting nectar from a meadow managed to produce a greater diversity of flowers. Traditionally this would involve cutting the meadow at the end of summer after flowers have set seed and removing the hay. The meadow is then grazed in winter by sheep. This kind of management helps to create a greater diversity of grasses and wild flowers that in turn supports more insects [bees] increasing the chances of pollination and production of seeds.

The “bees” from the other hive are collecting nectar from an “improved” meadow where there is less diversity of flowers. Explain that this kind of grassland is treated with fertilisers to encourage grass species for grazing.

As a result there are less species of wild flowers and grasses, which in turn supports fewer insects. “Bees” from this hive have to work harder to find nectar as there are less flowers and they are further apart.