TEACHER RESOURCES
Pollinator Lessons & Activities
Photo © USFWS — Mountain Prairie
Ideas & Inspiration for Teachers
Elementary School / Middle School / High School / School Garden Project
Find pollinator-focused lessons and activities for inside and outside the classroom.
Elementary School
Lesson Plans & Projects
Curriculum & Lesson Plans
Nature’s Partners (PDF)
Grades: 3-6 | Comprehensive pollinator curriculum
Six modules plus educator’s guide
Offered by Pollinator Partnership & The Bee Cause Project
Pollinator Learning Center
Grades: Varies | A collection of resources
Offered by Pollinator Partnership
Pollinator Lesson Plan Kit
Grades: K-2, 3-5
Make a Flower, Understanding Pollinator Pairings, Planning a Pollinator Garden
Offered by Kids Gardening
A Curated List of Pollinator Lesson Plans
Grades: 3-8
Exploring the Native Plant World, Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination, and more
Offered by PollinatorLIVE
Distance Learning
Webcasts & Web Seminars
Grades: 4-8
Nature’s Partners: Pollinators, Plants and People; The Insect Zoo in Your Schoolyard; Honey Bees, Native Bees, Gardening, and more
Offered by PollinatorLIVE
Games & Activities
Pollinator Projects
Grades: Varies
Word games, art-themed activities, and more
Offered by Pollinator Partnership
Monarch Migration Game
Grades: K-2, 3-6
Illustrates the challenges faced by monarchs that migrate to Mexico
Offered by Monarch Joint Venture
X Kids Program
Grades: 3-5 | Activity book
Designed to get kids outside and observing invertebrates
Offered by Xerxes Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Project Hero Pollination Quest
Grades: 3-5 | Project-based learning
Student-designed projects to help pollinators thrive
Offered by Captain Planet Foundation
Pollinator Jeopardy
Grades: K-2, 3-5
Jeopardy-style game lets students show all they’ve learned
Offered by Kids Gardening
Flowers Seeking Pollinators
Grades: 2-7 | Lesson plan
Which flowers are most attractive to different pollinators
Offered by California Academy of Sciences
Middle School
Lesson Plans & Projects
Curriculum & Lesson Plans
Habitat & Pollinators (PDF)
Grades: 6-8 | Garden lesson plan
Students conduct a species census within the garden habitat
Offered by Nature Conservancy Nature Lab
Bee Detective: Discover the Culprit Behind Declining Bee Populations (PDF)
Grades: 6-8
Students learn about the features of a honeybee colony and the potential causes of colony collapse disorder
Offered by Nature Conservancy Nature Lab
Bee-Focused Curriculum (PDF)
Grades: 6-12 | Lesson plan
Five-day biodiversity curriculum and activity guide
Offered by National Park Service
Pollinator Education Toolkit
Grades: 6-12 | Games and interactive features
Science-based education from pollinator experts
Offered by University of Minnesota Bee Lab
Games & Activities
Pollinator Jeopardy (PDF)
Grades: 6-12 | Game
An interactive introduction to pollinators
Offered by National Resources Conservation Service
High School
Lesson Plans & Projects
Photo © Dawn Parendo
Curriculum & Lesson Plans
Monarch-Focused Curriculum List
Grades: 6-12 | Lesson plans
Making Decisions In the Forest; Migration; Monarch Anatomy
Offered by U.S. Forest Service
Pollinator Habitat Guide (PDF)
Grades: 6-12 | Guide
Lessons on botany, taxonomy, impacts of habitat restoration, more
Offered by Earth Partnership at University of Wisconsin-Madison
Bees: The Invaluable Master Pollinators
Grades: 9-12 | Hands-on activity
Lessons on biomimicry, biodiversity, and the need to protect ecosystems
Offered by TeachEngineering
What the Bees Need: Pollinator Nesting Phenology
Grades: 6-12 | Lesson
Explores citizen-science-generated data
Offered by ScienceLIVE
The Hidden Beauty of Pollination
Grades: 9-12 | Video
Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg reveals the intricate world of pollinators
Source: TED
School Garden Project
How to Get Started
Planning Guides & Resources
Interested in planning a pollinator garden at your school? Get help from the National Wildlife Federation’s Schoolyard Habitats Planning Guide or Monarch Joint Venture’s Schoolyard Butterfly Gardens Guide (PDF).
Find more information about native plantings on our Community Resources page.
