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(PiZaZzY_pOlLiNaToRs)
Activity Guide
Do you love to eat tomatoes and strawberries? Do you grab sunflower seeds or
almonds for a quick and easy snack? Well, tomatoes, strawberries, sunflower seeds,
and almonds along with about 150 different types of food depend on pollinators to
produce the yummy foods that we eat! In fact, bees pollinate one out of every three
bites of food that you eat! But how does pollination work?
What is pollination?
Many plants rely on pollinators to move pollen from one flower to the next so that
they can fertilize the flower. This can happen when an insect, such as a bee, flies to a
flower to gather nectar. As the bee gets the nectar, it also picks up pollen from the
flower’s male parts, or anthers. The bee then moves the pollen to another flower’s
female parts, or stigma, where the pollen can then travel down to the flower’s ovary
and eventually fertilize the flower producing seeds! Without pollination, some plants
would not produce fruits or seeds.
(MeEt_ThE_pOlLiNaToRs)
Hummingbird
Butterfly
Beetle
Bumble Bee
Bat
Moth
(pOlLiNaToR_rElAy)
Objective: Students will identify bees, moths, hummingbirds, beetles, butterflies, and
bats as pollinators and distinguish which food each pollinator pollinates.
Materials:
Pollinator Pictures: bee, bat, moth, hummingbird, beetle, and butterfly (2 sets-one
for each team)
Plastic or pictures of pollinated items: almonds, onions, broccoli, apples, cherries,
honey, celery, cucumber, bell pepper, apples, oranges, banana, coconut, gardenia,
morning glory, pineapple, snap dragons, pond lily, macadamia nut, colorful flowers.
(2 sets-one for each team)
2 bags for plastic food or pictures of food.
Rules:
1. Separate the class into 2 teams
2. Line each team up in a single file line
3. The first person from each team will choose a food item from their team’s bag,
quickly walk over to the pollinators, choose which animal pollinated their chosen
food item & place the item on the picture of the pollinator.
4. After placing the food item on the pollinator, the student will quickly walk back &
tag the next team member’s hand so that they can choose another item from
their food bag to place on the correct pollinator.
5. At the end of the relay, the teacher will assess to see which team has the most
correct food items matched with the correct pollinator.
(pOlLiNaTe_ThAt_FlOwEr)
Objective: Students will understand the importance of pollination and cross-pollination
for plants to produce food.
Materials:
4 knee pads with velcro strips attached to serve as the pollinators (2 sets for
each team).
4-6 sets of 10 or so different colored or different sized balls to serve as pollen
pieces.
Rules:
1. Set up the pollen pieces according to color in different areas around the classroom
or on an outside ground area.
2. Split the kids into 2 groups.
3. Using the velcro knee straps, one person from each team will run to a flower and
gather as many pollen pieces as they can-without using their hands-run to
another flower, and drop the pollen pieces, (hands can be used during this part).
Each student will have 30 seconds to continue to gather the new pollen pieces to
cross-pollinate with the other flowers. After 30 seconds, a new team member
will cross-pollinate as much as they can in 30 seconds, and so on until the whole
team has a chance to cross-pollinate the flowers.
4. Discuss the importance of cross-pollination for both the plants and pollinators.
(Plants can’t move to pollinate themselves & many pollinators use the plants they
are pollinating to get food).
(pLaNt_A_pOlLiNaToR_gArDeN)
Buy seeds for plants/flowers that are loved by pollinators
and plant a pollinator garden with your class!
List of plants approved by pollinators:
Bees: onions, broccoli, apples, celery, cucumber, bell pepper, orange
Bat: banana, agave, cactus
Moth: gardenia
Beetles: pond lily, magnolia, sweetshrub, paw
paws
Butterfly: milkweed and other colorful
flowers
Planting Tips:
Make your garden colorful! Pollinators are attracted to bright colors as well as a
variety of different shapes of flowers.
Make sure you include plants that flower during different times of the year so
that nectar and pollen are available all throughout the year.
Plant your garden in large clumps or groups as opposed to single plants to better
attract the pollinators.
(pOlLiNaTiOn_SoNg)
To the tune of: "This Land Is Your Land"
What does a plant need to make a new seed?
Three things give flowers reproductive powers—
The sticky pollen, the slender stamen,
and pistils make the flower whole.
What gets the pollen going
To keep new plants growing?
Different kinds of birds do,
Or the wind that's blowing.
Butterflies and bees,
Carry pollen they need
That's what makes pollination work.
If a flower's not scented,
Or brightly colored,
And the flowers are smaller
In clusters tighter
With stamens longer
the signs are stronger
This plant spreads pollen on the wind.
When bright colored flowers
Have a sweet perfume
And a sugary nectar
Then chances are good
That birds and insects active
Find the plants attractive
And they'll spread the pollen as they go!
(c) 2008 Missouri Botanical Gardens
(pIzAzZy_pOlLiNaToR)
(wOrD_sEaRcH)
WORD BANK
ANT
BAT
BEETLE
BUMBLEBEE
BUTTERFLY
FLY
HONEYBEE
HUMMINGBIRD
MOTH
THRIPS
WASP
Two of these animals are actually not insects. Do you know which ones?
Answer: Bat and Hummingbird
(CoMpArE_&_CoNtRaSt)
Butterfly vs. Hummingbird
List the characteristics that belong only to butterflies on the left side of the Venn
Diagram, the characteristics that belong only to the hummingbird on the right and the
similar or shared characteristics of both the butterfly and hummingbird in the middle.
Pizazzy Pollinator Sources:
Source for song & word search:
http://www.life.illinois.edu/entomology/pollinators/docs/Pollination%20Activity%20Book.pdf
Source for pictures:
Multiple pollinators w/plants: http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/animals/
Bee: http://ecohoneybees.com/honey-bees/
Bee 2: http://healthylifealifah.blogspot.com/2012/08/eat-healthy-food-bee-pollen.html
Bee 3: http://hdw.eweb4.com/out/150586.html
Butterfly : http://detavio.com/2011/11/21/make-those-butterflies-fly-in-formation/
Butterfly 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_butterfly
Hummingbird: http://www.page1solutions.com/page-1-blog/hummingbird-hints-futuregoogle-search.html
Hummingbird 2: http://socialmediatoday.com/monica-romeri/1961856/googlehummingbird-s-marketing-strategy
Beetle: http://www.aces.edu/~azm0024/extension/tomatoinsects.php
Fruit Bat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_short-nosed_fruit_bat
Moth: http://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/polyphemus-moth/
Pollinator Garden: http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/pollinator-garden.html#
Pollination Picture: http://kidsgrowingstrong.org/Pollination
Pollinators Drawing Picture; http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/