School Children Swarm like Bees at Pollen Demonstration

by Lydia Holley March 31, 2025

Henderson County Master Gardeners were asked to provide a ten-minute activity on March 27 at the annual livestock show during the elementary school barn tours.

“Who can tell me an insect that pollinates the flowers?” Master Gardener intern Christy Worrell asked the eager children. Hands shot into the air as she heard the expected answers of bees and butterflies. Then they pretended to “bee” one.

First through third graders crowded around the table to simulate pollination. Their little finger tips touched flour then gently dusted the tops of blossoms.

Within two hours, 312 children in the Athens school district plus their chaperones touched flour and dusted flowers, stuffed cans to practice making a mason bee house, and received bug stickers. Each teacher was handed a packet for classroom distribution with copies about Monarch Butterfly behavior including its migration, a mason bee coloring sheet, and instructions on how to make a bee house at home.

First graders from Central Elementary recognized the two volunteers, Worrell and Cynthia Hight, and answered correctly to all their questions. Two weeks ago these students enjoyed Henderson County Master Gardener Association (HCMGA) volunteers providing an in-class lesson on pollinators to include mason bees before making a mason bee house.

“We will hang my son’s on our tree with the purple flowers,” one parent/chaperone said of her first grader’s bee house. She asked a few questions about the mason bee with keen interest. When it was time to depart, she smiled and helped the teacher escort the children to the next barn station.

Other stations on the barn tour included chicken egg incubation and a cow milking demonstration.

Texas A&M Extension staff thanked HCMGA for its presence.

Worrell attended the livestock show again on Friday night, March 28, which appealed to adults, because her intern class saw the opportunity to promote HCMGA at a table and solicit new members. Also on March 28, second graders in counties outside of Athens participated in the barn tour.

For more information, call 903-675-6130, email [email protected].