Part 2 Bird Experiments--Nesting Materials

As I promised in my previous post, here is the second experiment my children and I conducted using the above book. In this experiment, we gathered items that different birds might use to make their nests. We again put these items into bowls and put the bowls on a table set up near the back of the yard.

The six items the book said that birds use to make nests are: moss, sticks, yarn, mud, hay, and one other thing that I didn't have.

My son gathers moss.

The kids had to make mud, much to their amusement. You
can see that my middle daughter got wet, even though we
were trying to avoid that. Then they had to gather the mud.
They also enjoyed that very much. 

My middle daughter gathering mud. The book said it was supposed
to be very goopy. 

Here are the five things we gathered for the experiment: moss,
hay, sticks, yarn and mud. 

We only had one visitor. We think it was a mockingbird. It took moss from one of the bowls. We left the bowls out there for two days, but that was the only visitor.

My take away: I really enjoyed these experiments and though we really didn't have a great deal of action at the tables the act of gathering the things seemed to cement the lesson into my children's mind.