NECTAR: A Honey Bee Quest
What did you eat today? About every third bite of food you took is either directly or indirectly the result of pollinating bees.
Soon your students will be able to learn about the lives of honey bees and appreciate the vital role they play in our world through a game called NECTAR: A Honey Bee Quest.
With a finger on an iPad, smartphone, or other device, kids will guide “their” honey bee to scout for nectar-rich flowers, do the all-important waggle dance, avoid ambush bugs, feed baby bees, defend the hive from bears, and perform other bee-tasks. And most important: build the hive to survive the winter!
The Kickstarter fundraising campaign for NECTAR has a goal of $6,000. Dawn Publications has pledged to match that amount if the campaign successfully reaches its goal. Once the bee game is flourishing, developers Malachi and Chad have pledged to donate part of their profits to Earth Train, an environmental group that helps young people make a difference in creating a healthier planet.
I invite you to support NECTAR at Kickstarter. With a pledge of only $15 you will receive a FREE game.
INSIDE: In the Trees, Honeybees!
Did you know field bees have to collect nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey? Use this lesson plan, Sweet Treat, to make honey butter with your class.
Discover more great introduction to bees in the book In the Trees, Honeybees! by Lori Mortensen. Her rhyming verse will engage a young child, while sidebars with fascinating information satisfy the somewhat older child. In the back of the book, Lori shares information about how bees make honey and how beekeepers harvest it.
OUTSIDE: Bee Dance
Scout bees locate places rich with flowers. When they find a good flower patch, they return to the hive and perform a “waggle dance” to tell others where to find them. Use this lesson plan to have your students make up their own bee dance. This is a great activity to do outside, but you can also do it inside the classroom.
MORE FACTS AND FUN ABOUT BEES
- Download eight more lesson plans about bees for free from the Dawn Publications website. (scroll down the page to the title In the Trees Honeybees)
- Play this video to see NECTAR creators Malachi and Chad explain more about their game.