Here is a way to teach about pollination, habitats and life cycles while adding a unique look to your school garden or unmowed areas. Insect hotels are fun to build and encourage creativity in both design and implementation. They make a great class project that can incorporate a variety of curriculum areas including science, math and art.
Insect hotels use primarily natural materials to provide nesting areas for a wide variety of insects including butterflies, moths, solitary bees, ladybugs and solitary wasps and many others. Solitary insects don’t live in colonies and must find appropriate space to hibernate over winter.
There is very little expense involved since you are utilizing found or recycled materials. Include hollow bamboo stems or other drilled wood, leaf litter, pieces of decaying wood, straw, bricks or even rolled up cardboard. Do an internet search on the words “insect hotels” and you will find hundreds of great examples, both large and small. Many of these structures are truly garden art and add wonderful visual elements to a schoolyard.
The start of a school year is a great time to build an insect hotel since little critters will need someplace to hibernate over the winter. Insect hotels can be any size – some so small they can fit on a shelf, while others utilize pallets as the base. If you are constructing a larger hotel, be sure to construct on level ground to accommodate the weight. Larger installations should be stabilized to prevent tipping. Many schools opt to build several small insect hotels and place them in various locations to see who checks in.
If the idea sounds good, definitely search for some images of insect hotels. You will be amazed at the creative approaches that have been tried. This can be a wonderful low cost/no cost project that can provide powerful opportunities for teaching dozens of concepts!
Copyright © 2018 by Herb Broda
