Materials:
— Round tree trunk as base, or a paper plate
— Gather natural materials: sticks, leaves, grass, moss, pine needles, yarn
— Glue (optional to help hold nest together)
— Pencil
— Paper
Directions:
- Ask the students what they thinks goes into making a bird’s nest. Write the items down on a piece of paper.
- Take the children outside, either in the backyard or a neighborhood park, and start scavenging for the items mentioned. Encourage them to think about what in nature is pliable, what it is sturdy, and what a bird has access to out in the wild.
- Bring the items inside and place them on the paper plate or tree trunk base. Have them try to manipulate the grass and twigs and other items into a bird’s nest shape.
- Encourage them to weave items together, like the pine needles and grass. See if they can use just use two fingers, mimicking a bird’s beak, to get items to stick together.
- To take this activity a step further, check out some books at your local library about birds native to your area. See what kinds of things they use to build a nest and how they put them together. Talk about why they build them high up in a tree and whether that is a key element to keeping the nest together.
- Have your child display their nest outside in a tree. You never know, you might make a family of birds very happy to visit!
Big thanks to Education.com for the tutorial!