Bee Blooms
Restoring bee habitats through education and creative design
Bee Blooms Classroom Kits
Bee Blooms Classroom Kits can be used to teach students of any level about the importance of bees in the community through a hands-on and engaging lesson. Students will learn about bees and botany, and will then be able to create habitat for bees through the Bee Blooms Classroom Kit. Each kit contains 30 cow pots, 60 soil pellets (not peat), 4 pieces of large plantable seed paper, 30 nutrient pellets, a tray that holds 28 cow pots, and planting instructions. This is enough for a class of 30 students to do a 2 week - 1-month long lab. The kit will be accompanied by multiple presentations that can be used to teach topics related to the lab including (but not restricted to): bee importance in the community, bees as a keystone species, pollination, photosynthesis, germination, biomimicry, and more.
Teaching with the Bee Blooms Classroom Kit
Topic: Importance of bees in a biological community.
Summary: Students will learn about bees and botany through an engaging lab followed by 2-3 weeks of observation and ending with the planting of wildflowers that will provide habitat for bees.
Goals & Objectives: Students will be able to describe the role bees play in pollination and in their community.
Time Length: Project: 1-2 days, observation period: 2-3 weeks.
Prerequisite Knowledge: Varies by age group. Kindergarten - 6th grade needs no prerequisite knowledge. 7th-12th grade should have a basic understanding of ecology. They should know the terms ecosystem, community, and habitat and should have been introduced to the basic needs of living organisms.
Materials:
Bee Blooms Classroom Kit
Scissors
Copies of the paper helicopter template (for practice)
Notes: There are two main parts to this project: making paper helicopters and planting the seed paper. The first part is optional (but fun) and students can go directly to cutting and planting the seed paper if the first part does not fit the lesson. Editable presentations will soon be available covering the paper helicopter project, the importance of bees, and a few other related topics.
Resources:
Exploratorium paper helicopter template: https://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/roto-copter.html
Very Detailed Bee Blooms Classroom Kit Project Guidelines: