Honeybee Flower Race

Setting: DPA

Season: Spring

Activity Goal

Participants race one another to move pollen from the flowers to their beehive as quickly as possible in a spring outdoor environment.

For participant safety, please review the contents of the Beyond the Walls: Safety Considerations page for information on Safety Standards, Spring Safety Considerations, and Outdoor Playing Areas and Surfaces.

Equipment

• Beanbags (4-5 per participant)
• 2 buckets or hoops per group of 3 participants
• 1 L of water (optional, if not using beanbags)
• 1 reusable plastic pipette per participant (optional, if not using beanbags)

Before Play

• Review the safety rules and activity instructions with participants prior to the activity.
• Establish the boundaries for the designated playing area and share them with participants.
• Establish a start line for the activity.
• Explain to participants that bees visit flowers through the spring and summer to gather pollen and nectar. In doing so, they not only help these plants to grow, but they also bring pollen back to the hive to feed the bees, and the nectar back to turn it into honey. Some humans may choose to harvest the honey for food.
• Divide participants into groups of three to maximize their physical activity level.
• Explain that participants must work together, just like honeybees, to race from flower to hive and back again bringing ‘pollen’ (i.e., a pipette of water/beanbag) back to the hive (bucket/hoop).

During Play

• Instruct groups to line up at the start line, with each group member standing behind one another.
• On a predetermined signal, participants race one another to the ‘flower’ (e.g., bucket or hoop), and fill their pipette/grab a beanbag, and return to the ‘hive’ (e.g., bucket or hoop) as quickly as possible. Once they have returned, they must perform a pre-selected activity (such as one from Ophea’s 50 Fitness Activities) of their choosing until it is their turn to race again.
• Continue the race until participants have either run out of beanbags, or the water from the ‘flowers’ bucket has been successfully moved to the ‘hive’ bucket. The team that has the most water in their bucket/collected the most beanbags is the winner.

After Play

Use the following prompts for participants to reflect on ways to be active in spring and engage others in activity to build a habit of engaging in outdoor activity throughout the year.

Question prompts:

• How would the activity change if we altered the size of the pipette/or the number of beanbags? (We would get more water with each trip/gather more honey.)
• How do you think this relates to honeybee ecology and population size? (We will have healthier bee populations if there are lots of places for them to find pollen.)
• Why do you think part of the activity was completing a pre-selected activity? (Just like bees doing work in the hive, participants had to do work as well while waiting for their turn to go find pollen!)

Adaptations

Consider these tips to maximize the challenge and the fun for participants.

• To add a competitive edge, consider having a premeasured amount of water that participants must race to empty from the ‘flowers’ and ‘fill’ in the hive, or use a predetermined amount of time to measure which group was able to move the most water/number of bean bags in the time period.
• Consider co-creating a variety of animal walks or movement patterns for participants to utilize in traveling between flower and hive.

Modifications

Consider these tips to maximize inclusion and fun for all participants.

• For participants with visual impairments/blind/low vision, consider having participants ring a bell each time they visit a flower, or deliver their pollen to the hive so participants can locate flowers more easily.
• For participants with mobility limitations, consider having them move two beanbags, or use a larger pipette, so they can move more pollen with each trip.