Bird's Nest

It's a bird's MESS!

You will need:
There is no set list of materials you'll need for this project. Part of the fun is talking about birds and what things they might use to make a nest and to go on a hunt to find them in your yard. (or on a walk through your neighborhood) The items we used:

• Twigs
• Hay
• Grass
• Feathers
• Moss

Our collection of materials found in the yard.

And where we cheated (not that it helped us at all):

• Yarn
• Clay magic modeling clay

How to:

The challenge was to create our own bird's nest from materials we found in the yard. We did cheat a bit (well, a lot) by starting off with a bit of clay that we molded into the shape of a bowl. Then we just started randomly sticking the other materials into the bowl to make a nest.

Thoughts:

All hail the bird! Trying to make a bird's nest proved a huge challenge and gave me a whole new respect for a creature without opposable thumbs who can build a perfect little bowl of sticks....

An actual bird's nest. Amazing! I have a whole new respect for creatures who can build this with their beaks!

Our nest was an absolute disaster and Elliott had to cup his hands around it just to get it to stay together long enough for a decent picture. My vision of buying little fake birds to place inside our nest and displaying it proudly somewhere in the house was quickly crushed.

HOWEVER, (I put it in all caps, just to keep your attention, lest you were planning on not trying this project.) this craft was a big success as far as a fun time goes. I took the opportunity to check out a few bird books at the library beforehand and we spent days talking about birds and ways they could build nests. (Plus it helped that some Robins were building one in the front yard.) Elliott had so much fun collecting items for the nest. Even our neighbors got into the act and found some pieces he might be able to use. He had me in stitches (What exactly does that mean?) when he started to talk to a bird and I heard him asking, "What do you use in your nest?  How do you get it to stay together? Talk to me!" 

Needless to say the bird did not respond. If he had we might have had better luck.