All About Bees

• Talk to the students about bumblebees and how they are different than Honey bees. Be sure to explain why they are important for pollination, specifically how their legs are designed to capture pollen from certain types of flowers.
• Explain that bumblebees are impacted by herbicides and damage to their habitats. Also, by damaging their specific food source, they often die out as a result. Demonstrate this with a game:
  • Split the class into 4-5 small groups (would suggest no more than 4 or so). Tell each group of students that they are a specific type of bumblebee that can only eat from/ pollinate a certain color flower. Example: Purple Flour Bumblebees can only eat and get pollen from Purple Flowers.
  • Make a meadow of flowers with colors corresponding to your bumblebee groups. Ex: Have 6 purple flowers, 6 red, 6 blue, etc. In the center of each flower place 3-6 cotton balls; these will represent food and pollen.
  • Tell students that in order to survive they need to collect food and pollen from their flowers. Remind them they can only collect pollen from the same flower color as their groups (purple group collects only from purple flowers).
  • Let the students collect pollen for 30 seconds. At the end of this round, have them discuss how easy/ hard it was to get food (it should have been easy this first round).
  • Now take away a portion of the meadow (take away flowers of different colors). Give the students a story about pesticide use or someone mowing down the flowers, then let them gather pollen again. If you choose to use pesticides as a part of the story, throw in some green colored cotton balls (but don’t tell them why!). After students collected pollen, anyone with a green ball should sit out, as they were killed by the pesticide. Students should now find that with fewer resources they are struggling to get enough pollen. Students that were unable to get pollen must sit out to indicate they have died. Repeat this a few times mowing down/ killing off more of the meadow each time. In the end, all the bees will be dead.
  • This should be a good point of discussion on how damaging habitat can hurt the bees. Ask students what could have been done to prevent the bees from dying.
• At the end of the activity give students a worksheet where they can write a few sentences on what they learned about bumblebees.

Bumblebees are the close relatives of honeybees. They share the same family known as Apidae. There are 250 different species of bumblebees that inhabit the northern hemisphere. Bumblebees usually live in temperate regions. They can survive in various habitats and on different altitudes. The majority of bumblebees live in forests, meadows, and gardens. Bumblebees are usually specialized for pollination of certain types of flowers. Extinction of flowers often leads to the extinction of bumblebees. Additionally, bumblebee numbers have decreased due to chemical pollution (pesticides), habitat destruction, and disease.
Facts:

• They can reach ¾ - 1 inch in length
• Their entire body is covered in tiny hairs and are alternately arranged in yellow and black bands.
• Bumblebees have rounded body with 2 pairs of membranous wings and 3 pairs of legs. Legs are designed to gather pollen.
• They use smell to detect flowers rich in nectar. They are able to smell through their antennae on their heads.
• The buzzing sound they make comes from the vibration of their muscles used for flying. These muscles increase the body temperature and facilitate pollen collection.
• They eat pollen and nectar from flowers. They produce minimal amounts of honey that is used for food for young bumblebees.
• They live in a society of up to 400 individuals; divided into three groups: the queen, worker bees, and drones. Worker bees develop from eggs in the spring; they collect pollen and feed newly born bees. Drones develop from eggs in the summer and specialize in the fertilization of eggs. They die after fertilization occurs.
• The Queen hibernates during the winter and starts laying eggs in the spring. She lays 8-12 eggs at a time. Young bees emerge just 21 days later
• Bumblebees undergo a complete metamorphosis with 4 developmental stages. Eggs turn into larvae, which turn into pupa, and finally transform into the adult bee.
• Only the Queen and worker bees have stingers. Drones can be identified by size as they are the smallest bees in the colony.
• Unlike honeybees, bumblebees will not die after stinging. Their stinger stays intact so that they can use it in defense whenever necessary. They usually choose not to sting unless they are defending themselves.
• They live in nests on the ground or in piles of leaves. Sometimes they use the abandoned nests of birds or other animals.
• They are appreciated by many people because they pollinate many plants we use or eat, such as apples, cherries, tomatoes, cotton, mustard.
• Bumblebees are attracted to blue and violet colors.
• The lifespan depends on the type of bumblebee. Drones die immediately after reproduction. Worker bees live for a few months, and the Queen lives up to one year.