Staying Safe

How do animals keep themselves safe in their habitat?

Nests provide safe places for a bird to lay and incubate eggs. As the eggs hatch, the nest provides a safe place for the young birds to develop. Ask your child, where do birds build their nests? Did you know, not all birds build nests, some lay their eggs in trees, on the ground or even burrowed underground. Ask your child, what are nests made out of? What holds the nest together? Nests can be made of natural materials such as sticks, mud and grass. Mud is often used to hold a nest together. Mud is made of water and dirt. Sometimes man-made materials and trash such as paper, newspaper, plastic or fabric can be used by birds to build their nests.

Key Vocabulary: nest, natural, man-made

Check out this YouTube Video which shows a hummingbird making a nest. What materials does this bird use to make its nest?

Watch an episode of Wild Kratts.

Wild Kratts airs Monday - Friday on WITF TV at 7:30am and 12:30pm. You can also watch on WITFK 24/7 at 6pm and 6:30pm. The Wild Kratts episode you choose will help you explore animals and where they live.

Let’s build a bird’s nest. Go outside and collect natural materials to use for your nest. Collect soil and add water to make mud to hold your nest together. Design and build a bird nest with the materials you collected. Let your nest dry outside. When dry, pick up your nest. Did your nest fall apart? What could you do to make your nest more secure? What materials worked well? Which materials did not work well? Keep your nest, you will need it for next week’s activity.

Materials: Dirt, leaves, sticks, water, grass

Extension: Using construction paper and markers, create a bird to put in your nest. The bird should have a head, beak, eyes, body, wings, tail, legs and feet or create another nest out of man-made materials found at your house.

• Daniel Tiger Video

• Nest Building Teamwork

• Home Tweet Home

• Bird Builds a Nest by Martin Jenkins

• Mama Build a Little Nest by Jennifer Ward

• A Nest is Noisy by Dianna Hutts Aston

Also check your local library! You can find a list on our main page of local library systems.

If you enjoyed this week's activities and resources, you could be an ornithologist! Ornithologists study birds. John James Audubon is an example of an ornithologist who discovered new species and created a book with pictures of over 700 North American bird species.

• Check out all of these live bird cams from CornellLabs.

• Check out these bird-related games from CornellLabs.

• Listen and watch Jason explain how his love of birds started in elementary school and how he coped with peer pressure and teasing around his love of birds, but persevered and stood up to himself.

• Check out this interview with an ornithologist.

Also check out our STEM Career Connections page for more ideas about STEM Careers!