OBJECTIVE

Students will be able to name common garden pests

Students will be able to name common pollinators

Students will be able to name characteristics of insects

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

Why is it beneficial to have pollinators in a garden/on a farm?

How can the practices a farmer uses help or hurt insects on their farm?

How can we manage pests sustainably?

MATERIALS

• Boundary markers (watering cans or cones)
• String for necklaces
• Hole punch for making necklaces
• Pest and Pollinator cards, laminated and turned into necklaces (1 per student)

PROCEDURE

Introduction:

Tell the students that we are going to play a game about pests and pollinators. 

Ask the students what is a pest in the garden? Students may give names of specific pests they know of or describe what a pest does.

Come to the conclusion based on children’s explanations that a pest is a creature that does not help the garden grow.

Ask the students what is a pollinator? 

Come to the conclusion that a pollinator moves pollen around from one plant to the next and helps make fruit and seeds. 

Tell the students you are going to introduce them to some pollinators and pests.

Go through all of the pollinators and pests necklaces and ask students their name and if they think the creature is a pollinator or a pest for the garden.

Activity

Next, explain the rules of the game. It is similar to fishy, fishy cross my ocean.

There will be two taggers who are farmers who don’t know that pollinators are so important to the garden. These farmers don’t want pests or pollinators on their farm and are going to try to tag the pollinators and pests. If you get tagged, you are stuck in the farmers net that is off to the side. The farmers can decide if the net breaks or if a cutworm enters the net, the pollinators and pests all escape back into the game. 

The farmers are going to call out characteristics of the creatures like wings, antennas, stingers, feathers. Farmers can also say things like “if you are a pollinator” or “if you make a buzzing noise”. For example, the farmers in the middle will call out “If you have wings!”. All of the creatures with wings will  run across to the other boundary. If the farmer tags them, they are stuck in the net. If they make it across, they wait to go again until all of the pests and pollinators have run across as to not have students running in both directions. 

Wrap Up/Assessment: 

End the game by talking about how we can attract pollinators and help limit pest damage in the garden. Also discuss the problems these farmers would have without any insects on their farms