Insects don’t Text
How Honey Bees Communicate
Honey bees communicate through dance. When a honey bee has found a rich source of nectar it flies back to its hive and performs a waggle dance to share the location of the nectar with other bees. The dance is timed, specifically directed, and aligned to the sun to give exact directions to the sweet nectar source.
Fun Game for children to learn how/why honey bees communicate:
Play Dance Nectar
Create a hive (a place for children to gather like a porch, grassy area, hula hoop)
Decide on the ‘Nectar’ use a toy or a flower or something distinguishable for children to find
How to play:
One child is the ‘Dancer’ and hides the ‘Nectar’ somewhere in the play area, while the other bees (players) stay in the hive and close their eyes.
The Dancer returns to the hive and goes to the center to perform their waggle dance. The Dancer performs dancing movements to share the location of the nectar they have hidden. The Dancer could use gestures, dance moves, or facial expressions, but NO talking!
When the dancer is done, the other bees leave the hive and try to find the nectar.
Whoever finds the nectar becomes the next Dancer.
Fireflies Communicating
Fireflies communicate through blinks mostly to attract mates. Each firefly species has its own unique pattern.
Become a firefly:
Work with glow in the dark paint to create firefly patterns to explore later in the dark.
Get creative with glow sticks and have your child make their own unique firefly pattern in the dark. Work with your children on replicating unique patterns for cognitive development.
Use flashlights to play a game of firefly tag- make up your own rules!
Does anybody know the temperature? Cricket Cricket…..
Many people believe the chirping sound of a cricket comes from their long, jumpy legs, but crickets actually use their wings as their instrument for chirping. (Surprisingly, crickets’ ‘ears’ are actually on their legs and are very sensitive to vibrations!) Cricket wings have rough edges and when the upper and lower parts of the wings are rubbed together (called stridulating) it creates the chirping sound. Male crickets are most vocal and chirp mainly for mating and intimidating other crickets.
Cricket chirps are useful for humans too!
Typically on a hot summer night, you hear crickets singing loudest and there is a reason for that- crickets can more easily chirp when it is warm out. In the late 1800’s, Scientist Amos Dolbear researched the correlation between temperature and cricket’s chirps- creating Dolbear’s Law.
According The Old Farmer’s Almanac, to find the temperature outside focus on listening to just ONE cricket and then:
For Degrees Fahrenheit (° F)
Count the number of chirps in 14 seconds, then add 40 to get the outside temperature
Ex. 50 chirps + 40 = 90° F
For Degrees Celsius (° C)
Count the number of chirps in 25 seconds, divide by 3, then add 4 to get the temperature
Ex. 60 chirps / 3 = 20 + 4 = 24 ° C
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Get a fun thermometer for kids to use outdoors and experiment with!
Sing the Insect Communication Song
(sung to the tune of ‘Frère Jacques’ also known as ‘Brother John’)
