How do the Magic School Bus kids communicate where nectar flowers are? By dancing like bees! Challenge your kids to dance the Honey-Bee-Bop to communicate the location of hidden flowers.
Divide kids into "hive" groups of about 8 each. Have kids color, cut out, and tape together flowers to make the hive’s flower field. Make some extra bunches, too.
Pass out copies of the activity page. Look at the Distance Key, and help kids visualize distances. Ask: How tall are you? How many "you’s" fit between here and the door? Have kids measure the distance with their bodies. Let them estimate other distances and check with a tape measure.
Pick one kid in each hive to be the "scout bee." The scouts hide their hive’s flowers. For a more challenging activity, hid several extra bunches. The scout must communicate the location of the flowers to its hive by dancing the Honey-Bee-Bop.
Remaining kids are "worker bees." They must find the flowers.
Each hive watches the dance of its scout to get directions to its flowers. Then the hives "fly off’ to find their flowers. In a large space, increase the Distance Key for the dance.
Try again with new scout bees. Ask: Can you communicate or estimate distances better?
Celebrate with honey and crackers. Calculate how many trips one bee would make from hive to flowers for the honey you are eating. Figure 25 trips for the honey on each cracker.
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