August 5, 2015
natureintoaction
Environmental Ed & Eco-Schools, Insects -Buzz Into Action!, Special Events
bee, beeginner, beekeeper, buzz, buzz into action, buzzfest, craft, harvest, honey, pollinator
This past weekend my workplace held a Buzzfest Celebration providing an opportunity for visitors to harvest honey with the Beekeeping Master Gardeners and complete crafts and activities with 4H and Environmental Center staff & volunteers. Participants could uncap the frames with a heated knife, pour the honey into jars, take a honey taste test, make native pollinator seed balls, bamboo bundle bee shelters, look at bee and insect parts with a microscope, use bug eyes to experience bug vision, try on a bee suit, build-a-bee, roll a beeswax candle, read all about bees and more. Prizes like pollinator seed bags were provided when participants had their agenda booklet stamped at four or more activity stations.
Try on a Bee Suit
Bee hive craft
Honey Bee Craft
Bee Craft with 4H
Frame and Foundation
Hive Tool
Extractor
Smoker
Bottled Honey
Hive Body
Buzzfest Seed Balls
Honey Taste Test
Freshly Harvested Honey
Honey Bee Hive
Natural Bee Shelters
Native Pollinators
Bamboo Pollinator Bee Shelter
Bee Kite Craft
Build a Bee
Insect and Bee Examination
Bee Eyes
Bee Reading Zone
Roll a Beeswax Candle
Buzzfest Native Wildflower Seeds
Buzzfest sign board
Jan Zientek – Essex County Agricultural Agent & Expert Beekeeper
Bee Frame
Honey Bee Hives at Essex County Environmental Center
Scope on Honey Bee Hives
Uncapping the Honey Comb on Frame
Bottling the Honey
Buzz into Action at Buzzfest
Beekeeper Cutout, NatureIntoAction
David Alexander is author of the Buzz Into Action & Hop Into Action Science Curricula. He specializes in making nature accessible to people and wildlife. You can follow him at www.natureintoaction.com
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July 31, 2015
natureintoaction
Environmental Ed & Eco-Schools, Insects -Buzz Into Action!
caterpillar, life cycle, luna, metamorphosis, moth, sweetgum, tree
I raised Luna Moths a member of the Saturniidae family, also known as “Giant Silkworm Moths” as part of an educational display at the Butterfly Tent Safari. The process was the same as when I raised Polyphemus Moths except that the Luna Moths ate Sweetgum Tree leaves as their host plant. These Luna moths turned out to be the first of two generations to mate, lay eggs and die. The second generation will over-winter in a wrapped leaf cocoon.
Luna MothLuna Moth Caterpillar
Luna Moth Adults that haven’t yet fully dried their wings.
Luna Moth Cocoons and Hatching Adults
Hatching adult Luna Moths
Luna Moth Riker Educational Display. This one was brought to me dead after a playground incident that involved a basketball.
Luna Moth Caterpillar display. The cats will molt 5x before wraping themselves in leaves and forming a cocoon.
It is easy to tell a male and a female apart when comparing their antennae. The males have larger bushier more feather like antennae to smell the pheromones of a female to find her for mating. The female has smaller thinner antennae and tends to stay put waiting for the males to sniff her out.
David Alexander is author of the Buzz Into Action & Hop Into Action Science Curricula. He specializes in making nature accessible to people and wildlife. You can follow him at www.natureintoaction.com
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July 19, 2015
natureintoaction
Environmental Ed & Eco-Schools, Insects -Buzz Into Action!, Special Events
butterfly, butterfly tent safari, buzz into action, conservation, education, elementary, luna, monarch, moth, pollinator, safari
Every summer I work with staff and volunteers at the Essex County Environmental Center in Roseland, New Jersey to host a Butterfly Tent Safari event. The aim is to educate guests about butterfly conservation through wonderment that leads to active conservation and enhancement of our own backyard, schoolyard and community habitats. To learn bout hosting your own butterfly tent safari or bugfest event check out “Buzz Into Action, The Insect Curriculum For Grades K-4“.
Below are a few photographs of the program and an article from the Star Ledger that includes photographs of kids within the tent. As always I’m happy to share information if you have any questions about setting up a similar event.
Laminated Dragonfly Wing under microscope
Luna MothLuna Moth Caterpillar
Monarch Caterpillar
Laminated Monarch Wing under microscope
Praying Mantis
Laminated Tiger Swallowtail Wing under microscope
NJ Families Flock to Butterfly Tent Safari – Star Ledger Article
David Alexander, senior naturalist with Essex County Parks, has been involved with the butterfly event since it started in July 2010. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to get connected with nature,” he said. According to Alexander, the tent is filled with a variety of nectar plants and host plants and over 50 butterflies.
David Alexander is author of the Buzz Into Action & Hop Into Action Science Curricula. He specializes in making nature accessible to people and wildlife. You can follow him at www.natureintoaction.com
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October 2, 2014
natureintoaction
Citizen Science, Environmental Ed & Eco-Schools, Gardening, Insects -Buzz Into Action!, Plants, Seasonal Discovery, Stewardship
collect, dehis, dehiscence, harvest, milkweed, monarch, pollinator, seeds, student
It’s time to collect wildflower seeds for our native pollinators. I mostly use the seeds for seed balls or package them as promotional items to encourage pollinator conservation but they can also be sown and grown under lights or in cold frames to kick start their growth before planned planting.
I like to snap or cut the mature seed heads into a bucket. After letting the ants and other little critters that might be in there crawl out, I transfer the seeds to paper bags or envelopes where they will undergo dehiscence or dry out and split to release their seeds. The paper bag allows air circulation thus preventing mold. If you plan to hold the seeds into spring and grow them yourself be mindful that some seeds like many milkweeds require cold stratification before germinating and require refrigeration in a mix of horticultural sand and water.
Eco-School students and Green Clubs can collect and package seeds, craft a marketing plan and sell seeds as part of a schoolyard habitat fundraiser!
Citizen Science participants can collect milkweed seeds to send to Monarch Watch for their Bring Back The Monarchs Conservation initiative!
Collecting Milkweed Seed in Bulk
Be sure to seperate Milkweed Seed from Milkweed Beetles prior to packaging
David Alexander is author of the Buzz Into Action & Hop Into Action Science Curricula. He specializes in making nature accessible to people and wildlife. You can follow him at www.natureintoaction.com
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March 20, 2014
natureintoaction
Insects -Buzz Into Action!, Stewardship
egg, nectar, pollen, pollinator, tube, tunnel
This spring help improve your habitat for pollinators!
When it comes to our pollinators you often have to accept a few blemishes for beauty in your landscape. The old twigs and piles of branches that may appear to be untidy are exactly what about 30% of our many native pollinators require for nesting sites (Tunnel Nest Management, Xerces Society). To help provide shelter and attract our native pollinators to a place where they can bring up babies you can build a nest block. All it takes is drilling different size holes between 3/32″ and 3/8″ within the preservative free wood block to provide a variety of egg laying sites. The female will build and provision each brood cell with a mixture of pollen and nectar onto which she lays a single egg before sealing the cell. The offspring metamorphose through egg, larva and pupa before emerging as adults.
Materials to Make a Pollinator Block, Nature Into Action
Native Bee Pollinator Nesting Block – Insect Shelter
For More Information about Building a Nest Block: Download instructions from The Xerces Society.
For more ideas to improve your habitat for pollinators check out the Pollinator Gardens chapter of Buzz Into Action, The Insect Curriculum for Grades K-4.
For a fun science snack try demonstrating the egg laying in a tunnel or tube. Use celery as the tube, raisins as the eggs, honey + maple syrup as the nectar and pollen and a dab of peanut butter to divide the cells.
David Alexander is author of the Buzz Into Action & Hop Into Action Science Curricula. He specializes in making nature accessible to people and wildlife. You can follow him at www.natureintoaction.com
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July 18, 2013
natureintoaction
Insects -Buzz Into Action!, Special Events, Wildlife
butterfly tent safari, buzz into action, essex county environmental center, monarch butterfly, monarch caterpillar, rainbows end butterfly farm
For the last week I’ve been working with staff and volunteers at the Essex County Environmental Center in Roseland, New Jersey to host a Butterfly Tent Safari event. The aim is to educate guests about butterfly conservation through wonderment that leads to active conservation and enhancement of our own backyard, schoolyard and community habitats where butterflies may reside. To learn bout hosting your own butterfly tent safari or bugfest event check out “Buzz Into Action, The Insect Curriculum For Grades K-4“.
Below are a few photographs of the program to share with you all and video.
David Alexander is author of the Buzz Into Action & Hop Into Action Science Curricula. He specializes in making nature accessible to people and wildlife. You can follow him at www.natureintoaction.com
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