Eggs and Nests

Nature School
April 2, 2012

Nests and Eggs

Welcome song.
Today we are going to learn about nests and eggs! Our letter for today- E. Does anyone have a name that starts with e? Elliot, Eli, ….

Imagination exercise:
Before we go on our hike, I wanted to ask you all to close your eyes and imagine a little story with me. It’s a sunny, warm day in spring. You are outside playing and you see a really great climbing tree. It is tall and has branches down low so you can climb up onto them. You climb and climb. Pretty soon you are high in the tree. Then you see it! I wonderful little nest tucked near the trunk and a branch of the tree. It is about the size of your cereal bowl. You very carefully climb near it, careful not to bump the branches too much. Careful not to touch it. As you get closer, you peer inside. What do you see? Bright blue robin eggs! They look so fragile and delicate. They are the color of the sky. The nest has bits of feathers and straw and dried grass, cushioning the little eggs. You want to pick one up but you realize that there is a little baby bird growing inside the egg and you wouldn’t want to harm it. Plus, the mother or father robin will be back soon and they might be upset if you were touching their eggs! Carefully you climb back down the tree. You can’t wait to tell you family and friends about your discovery. As you gaze up into the tree again, you see a mother robin fly right into the tree and land on her nest! 
Did you enjoy imagining that story? Should we go explore and see what we can find in the forest today?

Hike:
Allow the children to explore, look for nests, build a nest of their own with twigs, sticks, branches, etc. Point out various nest you see along the way.

Nest Matching Game:
Print out or find in magazines pictures of animals and their nests/eggs/dens/home (for example- alligator, turtle, swallow, salmon, snake, frog, robin, swan, chicken, beaver, squirrel, ant, snail, etc). We are going to play a game! Did you know that there are lots of different kinds of nest? I have a bunch of pictures of different nests with eggs inside. I want to see if you can tell me what kind of animal’s nest it is. Then, I’m going to pass out the animal and nest cards, and you are all going to try and find your match among your friends.

Egg in the middle game:
All the kids gather in a circle. The children in the circle make up the “nest”. One child sits in the middle, pretending to be an egg. They then hatch and act out an animal of their choice (the little ones may need help). The children making up the nest try and guess.

Books:
“Guess what is growing inside this egg” by Mia Posada