BE a pollinator pal
Season: Spring, Summer
Time: 30 minutes
Become pollinator pals with your child as you explore the colorful world of flowers. During spring and summer, brightly colored flowers attract pollinators like bees, butterflies, and birds. Together, you can observe these pollinators in action and understand their important role in helping nature work.
Being a pollinator pal can help children:
Develop curiosity about the role of pollinators in nature
Practice observation and communication skills
Learn more about the diversity of plants and animals
A Song to Sing: Busy bees and butterflies, buzzing fast and fluttering by.
What To Do:
Go on a short walk with your child, searching for blooming flowers. Keep an eye out for pollinators like bees, butterflies, and birds visiting flowers.
Encourage your child to observe and describe the pollinators they see. How does the pollinator look? What color flower is it visiting? Maybe you know or can look up the type of flower. What does the pollinator do when it lands on the flower? Can you see the butterfly’s proboscis, or can you see pollen on the bee’s legs?
Help your child understand that these pollinators are helping the flowers to make seeds and fruit. You can explain this in simple terms: "Just like we need help sometimes, flowers need help too. Bees, butterflies, and birds help flowers by carrying pollen from one flower to another. This is called pollination."
Sing as you explore: "Busy bees and butterflies, buzzing fast and fluttering by."
Mindfully collect some fallen petals or leaves to bring home. You can create a nature collage on a piece of construction paper or a nature notebook. This collage can be a memory of your pollinator pal adventure and can help remind your child about the importance of each creature in our ecosystem.
Reflection: I appreciate pollinators because...
We hope you had fun together! Want to share? Snap a photo and share it with us on Instagram.