Bee Bingo - Florida Agriculture in the Classroom

Bee Bingo
Brief Description
Through Bee Bingo,
students will learn just how
many fruits, vegetables,
herbs and/or nuts that they
eat and rely on bees for
pollination
Objectives:
The student will be able to:
• Associate agriculture
products that require
pollination from bees
in order to grow.
Materials Needed:
 Scissors
 Copy of Bee Bingo
playing board (pg
107-111)
 Copies of playing
pieces (pg 95-106)
 Small Dixie cups
 Small Honey Nut
Cheerios or a bee/
honey item
Preparation:
• Optional:
Cut out boards and
playing pieces for
each student in class
or have the students
cut them out.
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Background:
Bees are four-winged, flower-feeding insects. They have enlarged hind
feet, branched or feathered body hairs, and generally a stinger. Honeybees
and bumblebees are the most common. Bumblebees are larger and stronger
than honeybees. Bees are beneficial insects because they produce honey
and pollinate crops.
The honeybee is very popular. It has been adopted by at least sixteen states
as the state insect.
It is believed that honey history dates as far back as 10 to 20 million years
ago and the practice of beekeeping to produce honey, apiculture, dates back
to at least 700 BC.
Activity:
Each student gets:
• 1 Bingo card & 1 Dixie Cup with Honey Nut Cheerios
Rules of the game:
• Every time the teacher calls out an item or shows a picture of the
item (i.e. a strawberry) the student covers the strawberry (if they
have one on their card) with a Honey Nut Cheerio from their Dixie
Cup.
Cover the honey bee on the card with a Cheerio, it is the free square.
The first person that covers all the items on their B card wins the prize.
More honeybee, honey and bee information can be foundin the appendex
on pg 112-113.
By: Frances (Fran) F. Strawn, District IV Chairman, Florida Farm Bureau,
Women’s Leadership Council.
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The Topic:
Bees
Easier - Bees are four-winged, flower-feeding insects. They have enlarged hind feet, branched or feathered body hairs, and generally a stinger. Honeybees and bumblebees are the most common. Bumblebees
are larger and stronger than honeybees. Bees are beneficial insects because they produce honey and pollinate crops.
The honeybee is very popular. It has been adopted by at least sixteen states as the state insect.
Harder - Honeybees (or hive bees) are in the animalia kingdom, the arthropoda phylum, the insecta
class, the hymenoptera order and the apoidea family. Beekeepers are sometimes called apiarists. Honeybees and bumblebees (apidae subfamily) are social bees and live in colonies. Solitary bees make their
own small family nests.
There are 10,0000 - 20,000 species of bee including many wasplike and flylike bees. Most bees are
small from 2 mm (.08 inches) long to 4 cm (1.6 inches) long. Bees and wasps are closely related. The
main difference is that bees provide their young with pollen and honey, while wasps eat animal food,
insects, or spiders. In addition, wasps have unbranched hairs.
Honeybees live in hives or colonies. A small hive contains about 20,000 bees, while some larger hives
may have over 100,000 bees. Hives include one queen, hundreds of drones, and thousands of worker
bees. The worker bees are female, but they do not breed. The queen bee is female and creates all the
babies for the hive. The drone bees are male and do not have stingers.
Bees communicate with each other about food sources using dances. The sounds from the movement of
the bees is picked up by the tiny hairs on the bee’s head. Bees use the sun in navigation.
The honeybee’s hive has cells made of wax. This is where the queen bee lays her eggs. She can lay 1500
eggs in one day. When the larvae hatch, they are fed by the worker bees. The workers collect pollen and
nectar from flowers. The pollen is used as a protein source and the nectar is an energy source. Some of
the pollen lands on the pistils of the flower and results in cross-pollination. This is important for some
crops and flowers. The relationship between the plant and the insect is called symbiosis.
Bees turn the nectar into honey. Workers must visit over four thousand flowers to make just a tablespoon
of honey. Beekeepers must be very careful when they remove honey from the hive. They try not to hurt
the bees. The beekeepers give sugar syrup to the bees to replace the honey that they take.
The “killer bee” is actually a type of African honeybee. In 1957, it was accidentally released in Brazil
during a science experiment. It began to move north and reached Mexico in the 1980s. It can now be
found in the southwestern US. These bees react very quickly, attack in large numbers, and swarm for
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A Few Honey Facts
Honey is a miracle food; it never goes bad.
Honey should be stored at a temperature of 70F to 80F in a dry cupboard
You can place a granulated jar of honey over hot water ( about 50-60C), as soon as the granules are dissolved, remove the honey from the heat and let it cool as quickly as possible. Remember, never boil honey!
Honey is the only sweetener that isn’t man-made and has healing effects.
Honey has a healthy Glycemic Index, meaning that its sugars can be gradually absorbed into bloodstream to
result in better digestion.
As a burn treatment, honey relieves pain effectively and heals wounds quickly with minimal scarring.
Honey contains vitamins and antioxidants; in fact one unique antioxidant called “pinocembrin” is only found
in honey.
Honey is a healthier choice than artificial sugar.
Although honey has more calories than sugar, it is sweeter and less can be used.
The color of the honey is determined by the plant from which the nectar was gathered. It is not necessarily an
indication of quality.
It is believed that honey history dates as far back as 10 to 20 million years ago and the practice of beekeeping to produce honey, apiculture, dates back to at least 700 BC.
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