Module 1

Activity C: Without Pollinators — What We Would Do Without

Participants will:

• Explore how we are dependent on pollinators for many of the foods we eat.

Materials needed:

• A grocery bag or large picnic basket filled with a variety of food — some that don't need pollination and many that do depend on pollination.
• Putting Food on Our Tables sheet, 1/participant
• Melon Flowers and Fruits, 1/participant
  
REPRODUCIBLES



>>Putting Food on Our Tables


>>Melon Flowers and Fruits





>>Bee-Free Fiesta sheet




Available from the
Gardening with Kids Store.

• Bee-Free Fiesta sheet, 1/participant
• Menus from restaurants, optional
• Pollinator Field Journal, 1/participant
  (may be purchased from the Gardening with Kids Store)

Suggested Grouping

Whole group

Getting Ready

Collect about 25 to 30 food items from your refrigerator and pantry and place in grocery bag or picnic basket. Make a copy of the Putting Food on Our Tables, Melon Flowers and Fruits, and Bee-Free Fiesta sheets for each participant.

Exploration

1. Gather students around a table or sit in a circle on the floor so everyone can see the foods that you will be showing them. Review the concept of pollination and fruit development with the Melon Flowers and Fruits handout. Explain that you want to see how good they are at identifying which foods depend on pollinators and which foods do not

2. Take foods out of the bag or basket one at a time and have the children say "pollinator" or "no pollinator," then place the foods in two separate piles. If the children are not correct, help them think about where the food really comes from and then place it in the appropriate group. Let them refer to the Putting Food on Our Tables sheet if necessary.

3. By the time you have identified all the foods you should have one group of foods that do not require pollination (usually this group will be smaller and not very colorful), and one group of foods that do require pollination (usually a large selection of colorful foods including lots of fresh fruits and vegetables). Discuss what it would be like to be without all the foods that depend on pollination — how unenjoyable and unhealthy our diet would be.

Concept Application

1. Ask the participants to imagine a world without bee-pollinated plants: the "Bee-Free Zone." Explain that they are going to attend a Bee-Free Fiesta in the Bee-Free Zone and that hamburgers and hot dogs are on the menu.

2. Hand out the Bee-Free Fiesta sheet. (This can also be used as a take-home activity.) Ask the participants to pretend they have chosen a hamburger or hot dog from the grill. Remind them that this is the Bee-Free Fiesta and that the foods listed on the Putting Food on our Tables sheet won't be available. Have the participants check the items on the list that they could not have at the Bee-Free Fiesta.

3. After they have eliminated the pollinator dependent items from the list, they can now choose what they will have with their hamburger or hot dog. Have them describe the meal that would remain.

4. Draw conclusions and develop statements about the need for pollinators in our environment.

Going Further

1. Introduce the Field Journal. Ask,

How would you find out if pollinators are doing well in our area or if they are having a hard time surviving?

How often do you notice bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds in your neighborhood?

Handout field journals and challenge participants to do "What's Buzzing in My Garden?" on page 5. (Ask participants to write their names on their journals.)

Small squash fruit developing behind pollinated flower.





Without pollination, there would be no pumpkins
or squash. Photos by Suzanne DeJohn/NGA.

2. Participants can also take home the "insect" and "flower" they made during the pollination activity and the Bee-Free Fiesta sheet to share with their family.

Reference List

Dasher, S.H., Leonard, B.A., & Robb, K.L.(1995). Unit A, Lesson 1, Africanized Honey Bee Curriculum, University of California Cooperative Extension

The Ecological Society of America, Pollination Tool Kit.

National Gardening Association, The Secret Life of Flowers, Growing Ideas: A Journal of Garden-Based Learning, 10 (3), 1999.

National Gardening Association, Pollinator Field Journal

Science Experiences and Resources for Informal Educational Settings (SERIES), It Came From Planted Earth, Session Six: Insects & Pollination, DANR, University of California, 4-H Youth Development Program, 2001

Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination November/December 1997 http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/partners_in_pollination/index.html

Melons require pollinators, too.
Photos by Sabin Gratz/NGA.

University of Arizona Africanized Honey Bee Education Project, Africanized Honey Bees on the Move, Lesson 2.4 Honey Bees and Pollination, http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/insects/ahb/lsn24.html

Wagner, Lisa. Cultivating Inquirers: The Plant-Pollinator Connection. National Gardening Association web site: http://www.kidsgardening.com/themes/pollinator5.asp (Dr. Wagner is Education Coordinator for the South Carolina Botanical Gardens and affiliated with Clemson University.)

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