What is a waggle dance?
Bees love colourful flowers because they are often a great source
of food (lots of yummy pollen and nectar).
When a honey bee finds a flower with lots of food she returns to
the hive and performs a special dance to tell the other bees. They
understand her instructions and fly off to find it. The more flowers
they find the more honey they make!
Setting up
Find a place outdoors that has bee-friendly plants
e.g. school grounds or park.
Divide the class into teams of 6-8.
Further divide the teams in two – into ‘worker bees’ and
‘hive bees’.
Tip: Give worker bees and hive bees
different coloured stickers
Before starting the game tell the class what a waggle dance is
(above). Then play!
Instructions to read to the group:
1
Tip: Children can pretend to be the
sun if they are miming a sunflower
Worker bees – you need to find a colourful flower
then fly back and mime to the hive bees what the
flower looks like.
How would you mime a sunflower?
(Everyone has a go)
It is not necessary to know the names of the flowers
2
Hive bees – you need to find the flower the worker bees have been miming. If you find
the right flower your team gets a point.
3
Halfway through you will swap roles in your teams
[leader lets the children know when it’s time to swap].
4
Before we start, bees at the hive – put your hands over
your eyes, no peaking! Worker bees – off you go!
Remember, look for colourful flowers.
Tip: Children can point to something
that is the same colour as their
flower e.g. point to something
purple if they are miming lavender
After 15 minutes stop the clock and bring the group back together. Ask questions like:
- Was it easy describing your flower to other bees?
- How do you think bees mime?
- How much honey do you think you would have made?
Find out more about Friends of the Earth’s Bee Cause at www.foe.co.uk/beecause