We’ve had fun welcoming spring, learning and exploring with birds, eggs and nests.
The kids and I had fun watching the wasps enter and leave the nest… and then watching me spray it and knock the nest off the side of her house (I hope she didn’t mind).
We rinsed it out (so we wouldn’t poison ourselves) and had a great time removing the dead wasps, looking into the different cells, even taking the nest apart to find some baby wasp eggs. We then went on a hunt for other nests in our neighborhood and made a few of our own with clay and twigs in the backyard.
What I learned about nests from my kids this week:
- Spectacle bears build nests in trees. My daughter wants one as a pet.
- Praying Mantises attack and eat each other as their first “meal” after hatching.
- Some birds will lay their eggs in other birds nests to avoid having to raise their own young.
Building our own nests:
- We checked out library books about birds, insects and animals that make nests.
- We made play dough nests with eggs.
- We created nests out of materials that birds use and attempted to place it in a tree just like they do.
More Nest building learning activities:
Squashed Tomatoes got bits of yarn and string and hung them out to help the birds in her area build their nests.
Esther of Creativity My Passion made a bird out of a tissue box with her daughter.
Caz of A little LEarning created an egg out of playdough, complete with a yolk and the egg sack (whites).
If nests aren’t structured enough for you, maybe our decorated bird house would be perfect!