Bring all the Birds to the Yard: Create a Bird Nesting Materials Holder & Make Classroom Connections

Being home with the kiddos through our distance learning days, lends itself to some cool projects where a lot of learning can happen. Recently, my son was tasked with the idea to bring a little "green thinking" into the mix, with one option being to improve our backyard habitat. We talked about it quite a bit. We have a lot of bird feeders and houses. We've got a pollinator garden and a ton of plants for our friends. We compost and grow both fruits and veggies. Creating a home for bees was out, because he has a major fear of insects. And then suddenly, we landed on it... What about providing materials for birds to make their nests?

After a little research, otherwise known as Pinteresting, we found a way we could use materials we have at home already, to make a cool place for our bird families to find materials for their nests. I got a couple suet feeders for Mother's Day, and that box was the perfect shape to house potential nesting materials. The birds could easily access it, and pull anything they were interested in out though the large holes.

We sat down and thought about what birds might use for their nests, thinking about size, weight, and the specifics that go into building a nest, and then the gathering began.

What we put into our holder this time:

• yarn

• soft packing material from a box that had been delivered

• raffia

• strips of fabric

A list of things that could possibly go into your nesting materials holder:

• pine straw

• cotton balls separated

• twine

• string

• thread

• grass

• straw

• hay

• twigs

• dead/spent flower & plant material

• store bought nesting material

• ribbon

• shredded paper

• pet hair

• On, and on, and on...

Connections for the school or home classroom:

• Investigate birds

• Investigate habitats

• Investigate how different birds nest in different types of places

• Investigate how different birds build different types of nests

• Ponder how humans have potentially changed the habitats of certain birds

• Start a discussion about bird migration

• Discover different geography through bird migration

• Investigate the life cycle of a bird

• Investigate bird families and the roles of males & females with different types of birds

• Classify birds by different characteristics or regions

• Investigate birds as predators and as prey

• Create food webs involving birds

• Design/Engineer a nest materials holder/birdhouse/bird feeder

• Design/Engineer a bird friendly zone at home or at school

• Study endangered birds

• Imagine ways humans can help birds in their community

Check out the following links for some other cool bird nesting materials holder ideas...

• Upcycle A Mattress Spring

• Using a Corn Cob Holder

• Using a Kitchen Wisk

• Nesting Material Cage

• Making Your Own Coil

Science is a love of mine and many of my creations are science related. To see the Science Digital Interactive Notebooks I've created for distance & blended learning, check out my Sweet Pea Labs Store.

Enjoy your future bird experiences!