Description: Students create bird’s nests out of recycled and nontraditional materials. A great way to talk about courage. Baby birds need courage to fly for the first.
Project Ideas:courage, nontraditional materials, naturalistic
Author: Mary Hager
Grade level or Target Age Range: Preschool
Vocabulary: spring, insects, birds, nests
Materials: For bird’s nest: paper plate, washable brown paint, glue, paint brushes or foam brushes, brown, blue, green, yellow, orange, and pink construction paper, plastic Easter eggs, picture of a bird’s nest or an actual bird’s nest, and foam stickers of insects, leaves, and flowers (all things that we might find in a real birds nest).
1. Talk about what we notice when the weather changes and it starts to get warm outside, such as the leaves turning green, flowers blooming, birds coming out, and insects too.
2. Start the project by discussing how a bird makes its nest and what materials it uses, such as twigs, leaves, and sometimes even trash it finds.
3. Show students a real nest so they can see how a bird weaves the sticks together.
4. Start by painting paper plates brown. Place a small amount of paint in the middle of each paper plate and ask students to spread it all the way to the edges.
5. Set aside plate to dry.
6. Give each student one plastic egg and have him/her separate the egg. Each side of the egg will become one of the baby birds.
7. Glue a beak and wings to each plastic bird.
8. Set aside baby birds to dry.
9. Next take the paper plate and put a small amount of glue in the center of the plate. Ask each student to spread the glue to the edges of the plate.
10. Then add strips of brown paper onto the plate the same way a bird weaves its nest.
11. Once the twigs have been added, give each student the stickers for them to place on the plate wherever they choose.
12. Glue the baby birds to the plates or keep them separate so that thestudents can play with them.