Have you ever seen a bird flying with a twig in it’s mouth? Sometimes that is what you see and that is all you think. A bird is building it’s nest. But if you think a little deeper, though, this tiny little bird is building it’s home. It’s building the bed where it’s babies will be born, where it will hopefully stay safe and where it will live until it doesn’t. Introduce your students to life of a bird with this build a bird’s nest activity!
My daughter and I saw a bird carrying a pretty large twig, which I think is why it caught our eye. The twig was more like a stick and much larger than I had expected this tiny bird could carry in it’s beak. It got me thinking and we decided to Build A Birds Nest.
STEM For Kids: Build A Bird’s Nest
The best part of this activity was spending time with my daughter outside, that it is finally nice outside again. It was amazing to get in nature and put ourselves in a bird’s’ life.
Observing Birds & Nests
The first thing we did is explore our neighborhood to find birds nests. We looked in corners of roofs, in bushes and of course in trees. We found a few but I explained that as Spring goes on, there will be more. The ones that we did see were all different. Some made mostly of twigs, some thick grass, and others with a combination of many things including twigs, grass, leaves, or even flower petals.
I guess I had never thought about birds using flower petals for their nest, but it makes total sense! And it makes the nests super pretty too.
Collection Of Supplies
We started the process of making our own nest by filling in some of the included printable sheet. We wrote down what items we thought would be good to collect and we drew a preliminary picture of what we thought it would look like after we built it.
Next, we went on a nature walk and collected supplies:
- sticks
- flower petals
- grass
After we collected, we brought them home to start building.
Building The Nest
We thought that starting with sticks on the bottom would be the best for support.
Next, we weaved in blades of grass and topped it off with flower petals.
As we were building I explained things such as the larger sticks being on the bottom for support, the grass and petals being cushion for the birds and their eggs. We talked about why birds have nests and why they can’t just live on a tree branch.
I think our nest turned out pretty darn good. My daughter insisted that we leave our nest outside, that maybe a bird would ‘move in’. That has yet to happen, but it was an adorable gesture!
More Science Activities and Ideas
Walking Water Science for Kids
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Download Your Nature Walk Nest Building Recording Sheet Below!
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Click the picture below to download. You will immediately be redirected to the freebie.
I hope that you and your students enjoy the Nature Walk Nest Building activity to use in your classroom this year!
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