Last week, I wrote a post about Birds at PreK and K Sharing. I love Kevin Henkes' book, Birds, and I wrote about activities I use to go along with that book and other Kevin Henkes' books.
This week, we have been using my Bird Nest Prezi a lot. We've watched different videos of birds building nests and looked at/talked about lots of different birds, types of nests, and what birds use to build their nests. Spring is such a wonderful time of year to introduce children to different types of birds, and maybe even introduce them to a lifelong hobby of bird watching or just feeding and being aware of different types of birds.
Every year, I have my children make Bird Nest Kits to help the birds in the spring. I have trays with different items on them that the birds could use to make their nests. The children fill up a brown lunch bag with whatever they would like to use to help birds build their nests. Then, I staple the bag shut and put on one of these labels.
The children's homework is to find a spot outside at home to dump the ingredients of the bag, so the birds can find some special treasures to use for their nests. We talk about how exciting it would be to actually find a nest with a piece of yarn in it that they put out for the birds!
I love this picture because this bird used a snake skin in its nest!
This bird used some newspaper.
This video shows how the little robin uses its body to make the shape of the nest. I love this!
Then, the robin puts something softer on top of the mud for the eggs and babies. I love how the robin uses mud for the base to keep it sturdy.
The children love learning the different types of nests. The names make sense: A cup nest is the shape of a cup. The spherical nest is a sphere shape. The platform nest is built on a platform. The cavity nest is in a hole, just like a cavity in a tooth is a hole in a tooth. A pendulum nest hangs from a branch like a pendulum on a clock. We learned lots of vocabulary as we talked about the nests. I used the pictures for each type of next from my Prezi.
How about in a traffic light, on a mop, or on the top of a bird house?
We also talk about fiction and non-fiction books regarding bird nests. My little "help" for this is that fiction is "fake" and non-fiction is "not fake." The children love to point out how they never see birds wearing little hats, so that is fiction.
We also love this story!
Library Centers shared this great activity to go along with The Perfect Nest.
Here are some other wonderful FREEBIES that I found on TPT to use with a bird nest unit.
Twinkl Printable Resources shared this Eggs in Nest Addition Sheet
and this Eggs in Nest Counting Sheet that would be fun for an independent math activity.
Cindy from KinderKay has a precious Eggs in a Nest Subtraction Craftivity. I love all of her products.
This Robin's Nest Addition activity by Julie Van Alst is a fun way for the children to practice addition facts! I also love Julie's products.
This site, Allen's Hummingbird by S. Beals, has beautiful photographs of 72 bird nests. The children love seeing pictures of the different types of nests.
Here are some more of Sharon Beal's beautiful photographs of bird nests.
Montessori Print Shop has a great freebie showing 12 different Birds and Beaks with real photographs.
Mrs. Nelson is Missing shared a student Bird Book that would be a great addition to a non-fiction study about birds. The students can record what they learn about their favorite bird.
Jennifer Hier shared a sweet Counting Eggs: Bird Emergent Reader.
Debi Forsyth shared a wonderful Types of Birds Easy Reader. Love this!
I made this little paper to go along with her book, to show the children what each bird really looked like, so they could use it as a guide as they colored their books. If you would like a copy of my bird pictures, just click on the picture below.
I actually saved the page as a picture, and printed it out as a 5x7 picture, just to save some ink. Then, I cut each one in half (since there are two strips on each page) and stapled a strip right onto the cover of each child's book.
The books came out so sweet! Thank you, Debi!
Mark Johnson made a Birds in a Tree math word problem freebie activity.
Amber Bass shared a How Many Birds Do You See? counting activity.
Simply Kinder has a darling Spring Subtraction activity!
Bronwen Aiston made a great PowerPoint to show how to design a birdfeeder with recycled materials around the house.
Danielle Irons shared these cute Bird Behavior Rules. They would be fun just to review with the class during a bird unit- and a great little vocabulary lesson.
Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful day! What do you think of these nests?
One other thing--I taught Kdg for many years and used to take the green strawberry baskets and provide nesting materials (as you did) but encouraged the children to use the materials to weave through the grid of the basket. Good fine motor! Plus they could add a pipe cleaner handle and hang it from a branch and observe the birds taking bits. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing, Lisa! Love your idea!
DeleteI loved this post! I've been saving it in my email file until I really got a chance to read it. Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful resources! I sure would have loved to have had my children in your class!
ReplyDelete:)
Heidi Butkus
Thank you so much, Heidi! Oh I wish I had your children, too- and most of all, I wish they had YOU! :) Of course I would have you send in a video of your hummingbirds. I think of them so often. :)
Deletehi, great post..
ReplyDeletethe link for the bird book seems to direct to an incorrect link... it says miss nelson is missing but that doesnt appear to be the Correct Tpt user name can you please help as id really like the resource .