Build a Nest STEM Activity with 'The Perfect Nest'

We've been talking about birds all week, and observing the many birds in our yard. We collected a variety of nesting materials and left it outside for the birds, but unfortunately no one seemed to want anything from our pile! To see what we collected for the birds, check out my "Birds Make Nests" post.

Since we'd already read "Birds Make Nests" by Michael Garland and learned about the different kinds of nests birds make, I chose a funny story for today. We read "The Perfect Nest" by Catherine Friend...

...and then I set up an invitation to create nests to extend our learning about birds and nests. Younger children can simply try to make a round structure to place their eggs on but older children can be challenged to build something that will stay together - you can even try placing their nest and eggs in a tree or bush and see if it holds! Just keep in mind that no matter how awesome a nest your child is able to build, most birds prefer to build their own nests in just the right spot and it is unlikely that a bird will move in to their nest if they leave it in a tree or bush.

I love using the green and pink trays for the kids to work on so it contains the mess. Of course I wish I had bought two more when I found them cause I use them ALL the time!

These are the materials I used:

- crinkle paper strips (we got a box of fruit over the holidays and I kept the box full of packing paper for things like this!)

- fake grass (you could also use real grass or weeds from your yard - it was raining today so I didn't want wet soggy grass)

- feathers

- cotton balls

- twigs

- yarn

- clay

- wooden or plastic eggs

We watched this video of a robin building a nest (we skipped around and didn't watch the whole thing through).

And this time lapse which gave us a better angle on the inside of the nest

Lil C found it interesting that the robin seemed to make a pile and then smush it outward into a cup shape with her feet. So her method involved taking all of the fake grass and trying to smush and spread it into a cup. Then she added some crinkle paper, twigs, clay, and cotton balls and string for softness.

Squidgy was less meticulous in his construction and went with the "make a pile of crinkle paper with some twigs and try to make it stay together under the eggs" strategy.