Oxford Plan Bee-autiful!
The Virtual Community Meadow Project
Bees need your help! Bees need places to live, flowers for food, and to be safe from pesticides – you can help!
Here’s our plan: We’re going to build a Bee-autiful Community Meadow full of bees and flowers made by you
And we’re going to use photos of the meadow along with your letters to
send messages to the government, farmers, schools, and workplaces about how we can all help the bees!
We need your help!
Make a bee or flower for the Community Meadow 
Send us your creations and we’ll make the Meadow!
Your bee or flower can be 3D or flat, and you can make as many as you want. Make them out of anything - There are plenty of perfect crafty materials in and around your home (paper, wool, wire, string, fabric, ribbons, leaves - use your imagination!)
A display of your bee-autiful bee and flower art at the Oxford Museum of Natural History 'Inspired by Insects' event
Click here to see more beautiful creations people have sent us!
Need some crafting inspiration?
Watch these videos by Emma, from Oxford Plan Bee:
01 Bee Anatomy small
Pictures of the Meadow will go on our website and on Twitter (@OxfordPlanBee),
making a fabulous contribution to our efforts to help the bees!
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Please send your crafty creations to Oxford Plan Bee c/o Tonya Lander Department of Plant Sciences University of Oxford South Parks Road Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK |
We need your help!
Write a letter to spread the message 
You could take a picture of your crafty bee or flower creation, or even make another one, and send it along with a letter to let people know we all need to care for the bees.
Your school or workplace – you could suggest they plant pollinator-friendly plants outside their buildings
Your local council – you could ask them to consider pollinator friendly management practices and pollinator planting schemes.
Find your local council contact here:
https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council
If you would like to contact your local Member of Parliament, George Eustice (the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), or the Prime Minister, you may be interested in The Wildlife Trusts Action for Insects Campaign:
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/action-for-insects
We take no responsibility for content on external pages.
What else can we do to help the bees? 
Eight simple actions for insects
Create insect-friendly habitats:
1. Convert lawns into diverse natural habitats.
2. Grow native plants.
3. Reduce pesticide and herbicide use.
4. Limit use of exterior lighting.
5. Reduce soap runoff from washing vehicles and building exteriors, and reduce use of driveway sealants and de-icing salts.
Increase awareness and appreciation of insects:
6. Counter negative perceptions of insects.
7. Become an educator and advocate for insect conservation.
8. Get involved in local politics, support science, and vote.
(Kawahara et al. 2021. PNAS e2002547117)
• Share the 'craftivism' fun, download the flyer and send it to your friends and family
• Join the Oxford Plan Bee citizen science project
• Learn about gardening for pollinators and other wildlife
• Make a bee nest box
• Learn about pollinator conservation in policy
• Learn more about bees
