Creating a bird's nest with tweezers

Stanhope - The fourth grade students in Mrs. Moscatello’s science class of Valley Road School have been studying how animals are able to live in their particular environment through specialized adaptations. The purpose of this activity was for the students to experience using a particular adaptation to accomplish a task. First, the students used the “Flex Cam” on the SMART board to get a close up look at the construction of an actual bird’s next. The class discussed what the possible bird’s strategy was in the way a nest was built and the different ways we could replicate it. Students were given twigs, leaves, dried grasses, shredded paper strips, yarn and other odds and ends to use for their building materials. They were also given a paper plate, a small cup of flour water, an eye dropper, and their main too, a pair of tweezers. Students worked in pairs to construct a bird’s nest using only their “beaks.” They needed to work together and do some problem solving along the way. Many students thought it was a lot harder to do than they thought it would be. The resulting nests are quite impressive.