The Nectar Budget

This activity turns August bee behavior into a simple resource game. It works well for upper elementary and middle school students, and it takes very little prep.

Bees & pollinators

Kit needed
4 steps

Run with a class

This activity turns August bee behavior into a simple resource game. It works well for upper elementary and middle school students, and it takes very little prep.

Questions to ask

When food became scarce, did behavior change?
Which choices were about getting food, and which were about protecting food?

Where it comes from

August is when flowers get quiet. The garden may still look alive, but for honey bees, the big nectar rush is often fading. Clover dries down, spring blooms are long gone, and many late-summer flowers offer pollen or color without the same steady sugar flow.

That is when a calm hive can start acting different. Bees check every crack. Guards meet visitors at the entrance. Yellowjackets appear like tiny tax collectors, and a spilled drop of syrup can turn into a buzzing traffic jam.

It is not “mean bees.” It is not a mystery mood swing. In many places, August is the dearth, the gap between major nectar flows, and colonies respond like animals protecting a winter pantry.

Read the blog post ↗ Surviving the August Dearth: Why Bee Colonies Turn Guarded · 2026-08-05

Run it

Ticks stay in this browser, so you can set up now and teach later.

What you need

Small tokens, cubes, or paper squares as “nectar units”
Three signs: Spring Flow, August Dearth, Fall Flow
Hive cups or envelopes for each student group
Optional “event cards” for drought, robbing, feeding, or yellowjackets

Steps

Round 1 During Spring Flow, students collect many nectar units and store them in the hive.
Round 2 During August Dearth, reduce the available tokens sharply. Groups must decide whether to forage, guard, or conserve.
Round 3 Add event cards. A spill attracts robbers. A reduced entrance helps defense. A drought lowers nectar even more.
Wrap-up Students explain which choices helped the colony survive scarcity.

00:00

Workspace

Run it with your class

Set up the class, count what needs counting, write down what happened, then save it and take it with you. Everything here stays in this browser until you download it.

The class

Class or group Date Students Students per group

Counters

Results table

Notes as you go

Round 1: During Spring Flow, students collect many nectar units and store them in the hive. Round 2: During August Dearth, reduce the available tokens sharply. Groups must decide whether to f Round 3: Add event cards. A spill attracts robbers. A reduced entrance helps defense. A drought low Wrap-up: Students explain which choices helped the colony survive scarcity. Anything else: what worked, what to change

Answers to the questions

When food became scarce, did behavior change? Which choices were about getting food, and which were about protecting food?

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