Dance of the Honey Bee Objective: This activity provides resources that foster understanding of the behavior, roles, and life cycle of the honey bee. Materials: Provided in the Insect Kit: LIFE OF A BEE and WORKER BEE worksheets. WATER, FLOWERS, and SUN index cards. Coloring markers or crayons. Background Information: Appropriate Grade Level: 1 st 5 th Time Required: 1 Hour Curriculum Benchmarks: Structure and Function: Compare and contrast characteristics and behaviors of plants and animals and the environments where they live. Organisms: Describe characteristics, structure and function of organisms. Interaction and Change: Describe life cycles of living things. Activity Inventory: See materials list. The Life Cycle of Honey Bees There are three castes of honey bees: queens, which produce eggs; drones or males, which mate with new queens and have no stinger; and workers, which are all non-reproducing females. The queen lays (1) eggs singly in cells of the honeycomb. The egg develops into (2) larvae, which hatches in three to four days. They are then fed by worker bees and develop into (3) pupa. After about 20 days, the (4) adults emerge as queens, drones, or workers. Larvae Adult Pupa
Communication of Worker Bees: By performing different dances, successful foragers, or worker bees, can share information about the direction and distance to patches of flowers yielding nectar and pollen, to water sources, or to new housing locations. Lively dance will usually attract more followers. The bees communicate by using their sensitive antennae and feeling for vibrations. The dances usually include one or a combination of the following: repeating circles, zig-zags, small figure-eight patterns, wiggles, random angles, and varying speeds. There are typically two distinct types of honey bee dance: 1. The round dance, indicating that food is nearby; and, 2. The waggle dance, indicating that food is farther away. Role of Honey Bees: (additional information) The queen bee spends her life safely tucked away in the hive and lays eggs. The other bees bring her food and take care of her. Drones have no purpose other than to mate with passing queens. They do not collect honey or nectar, and very rarely leave the hive. The worker bees build combs, clean the hive, forage for honey and nectar, and guard the hive. Activity: 1. The first component of this activity involves an overview of the life cycle of the honey bees. Hand out LIFE OF A BEE worksheet. Review each stage of development by showing pictures and asking the following sample questions: 1. What happens after egg? 2. What is the last step? 3. Do they get bigger as time goes on? As a class, students will name each step and then individually draw in each step. If time permits, hand out COLORING WORKSHEET for students to do. 2. The next component of this activity involves dancing! Your students will stand up at this point and practice three different dance moves, each of which indicates a specific message. 1. Butt wiggle flowers are near! 2. Head pat the flowers are purple! 3. Knee touch the flowers are far away! 4. Feet touch spread the word to other bees! Review each one. Students sit down. Ask students Why it is important for bees to communicate? Then ask What do bees need to live? As they answer correctly, tape WATER, FLOWERS, and SUN next to each other on one wall of your classroom or on the ground if you decide to do this activity outdoors. 1. Your students will now equally split up into these three teams. Students will stand in a line facing one direction except for the student in front - they will be facing you. All students use their index fingers as antennae on top of their heads (first ask them what bees use to communicate). 2. Your job as the teacher is to communicate the same message to the front student using the above dances. The student then turns around,
taps the next student on their antennae so they turn around, and relays the same message. 3. While this is happening, you move to the other end of the three lines. The process continues to the end, at which point the final student will relay the final message to you in the correct order. In the next round, the dance pattern may vary. 4. Each correct team gets a point or reward of some kind. Additional challenges: (1) see which team does it the quickest with no errors, or (2) repeat dance moves in one message. Diagram of Dancing Activity: Team FLOWER Team SUN Team WATER CLASSROOM OR OUTDOORS Students line up in the direction of the arrow. As the teacher relays the message, the next student turns around and passes the message down their team s line. As this is going on, the teacher moves to the other end, ready to receive the message from each team. Teacher
LIFE OF A BEE What are the four life stages? Draw what they look like. Stage 1: Stage 2: Stage 3: Stage 4:
WORKER BEE What else can you add to this picture?