Rosemary Elementary School / 2nd grade
Teaching Artists Program / Montalvo Arts Center / A 10 hour project (one hour per week for 10 weeks).

Unit: The Secret World of Pollination / Pollinators (2 x one hour session)

I was inspired by the clothespins automata created by The Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium San Francisco and by Rob Ives. I adapted this simple mechanism activity to the pollination unit, using the movement of the pollinators when they come drink the nectar with their proboscis. For example bees visit the flower to collect nectar for honey preparation and during collection process they pollinate the flowers. With simple materials and many possibilities and variations, this is a great activity for the students to learn about pollinators.