The Best Nest

The boys each a bag and we headed outside on a bush walk to observe birds and to collect materials for their bird's nests. The boys collected, grass, soft paper, string, leaves, yarn, leaves, and thin twigs.

This activity provided such a wonderful opportunity for language development. The boys talked lots about why they chose certain materials e.g "This big piece of bark I'm putting in will protect the eggs from the wind and rain." "I chose these twigs because they look like the tree that a nest could be in, that way a vulture will think it is a normal tree, it's hibernating."

Rolling eggs with play dough is great for fine-motor skill development.

Making a Bird Nest

Materials Needed:

• Brown Play dough, Clay or shredded string


• Outdoor materials- collected by your child on your walk


• Toothpick (to write their name and date underneath) if you use clay


• bags


• Play dough

Preschoolers are natural scientists. This morning I decided we would have a day learning about bird, nests and habitats. I gave the boys each a bag and we headed outside on a bush walk to observe birds and to collect materials for their bird's nests. The boys collected, grass, soft paper, string, leaves, yarn, leaves, and thin twigs.

Once back home I gave the boys some brown shredded paper string I had picked up from the discount store in the craft section (you could also use play dough or clay prepared the night before) The brown shredded string will represent the mud for this craft. I showed the boys how to shape the string into a bowl-like configuration. Next, they used their fists to push the center of the "nest" in, and gently pull the sides up. With a preschool craft, it is always best if each work of art is different so I went with the shape that they made for their nest! Then I had the boys use the outdoor materials they collected to stick into the string. Then the boys used some play dough to roll some eggs to put inside their nest. This was a wonderful activity rich in language development as well as science. The boys are so proud of their nests and will definitely take pride of place on our Easter shelf!