Talks and Games for the young and not so young, societies & youth groups 

 

This talk start with what are insects. Honeybees are a type of insects. We explore other insects the students may know and compare them. Then we see what are honeybee's cousins and why they are different honeybees. We look at their anatomy. Then we discover the honeybees life cycle and the jobs they do before we seem them on our flowers. 

 

 

This talk is about how trees are important to honeybees. This talk was developed for the National Forest "Black to Green" project. We start with Honeybees and the difference between them and their cousins the Bumblebees. Next we cover the life cycle. Then we talk about the sequence of trees as they come out of the winter and where they help the bees. The last element is swarming. What it is and why it happens. 

This talk provides the opportunity for the student, either before or after the session, to identify trees around the school or their homes.  

 

This presentation concerns what part bees play in pollination. We first explore the Honeybees life cycle. The bees success depends on pollen and nectar from floral sources. We see how flowers arrange for nectar as a payment to the bees of spreading pollen from plant to plant. We talk about other pollinators. We discover why we need diverse sources of pollen for our pollinators. 

 

 

To book a talk for your group, please email info@thebeefarmer.co.uk  

The students need to have been through on the talks so they have an understanding of the bee's life cycle. As additional element can to the making of "hats" from cards so that roles can be recognised. We need plenty of room for this session. The school hall, gym of even outdoors would be suitable. We use PE mats to define a hive. The students are encouraged to remember the bees roles explained in the talk. The students are divided into the bee roles. Buckets filled with plastic balls are set out around the hall. The buckets are flowers, the balls nectar/pollen.  

 

In the first game the students act as bees, the bees grow and forage and the hive gets full. The second evolution. Black balls are introduced into the buckets. These represent pesticides. We have the kids picking up black ball behave differently. The hive "dies" as a consequence. During the two exercises we stop the action to get the kids to examine what is going on. It is a powerful piece of work but fun nonetheless. 

We have a debrief to close the session so the students go away on a positive note. 

 

We need plenty of room for this session. A hall, gym of even outdoors would be suitable. If you remember the 1970s kids game show called "Runaround" you will already know the format of this game. Three answer stations are set out around the venue. A question is asked. Each question has multiple choice answers. The students are given a short time to run to the answer station they think is the correct one. The answer is revealed and a short explanation is given. The students are reset and the next question from the pool is asked. 

The pool of question can be arranged to support the objectives of the wider curriculum. This is a great piece of kinetic learning.  

In this talk we explore what honey actually is. We look at its composition and explore the elements that make natural honey so good for us. We also look at what "supermarket" honey and discover the difference. We find out why some honey granulates and other do not. We discover why honey does not spoil and alternative uses for honey. 

 

We find out how and why bees make honey. At the end of the session we have a honey tasting to experience, flavour and textures.