My Father's World Kindergarten: Unit 5

My Father's World Kindergarten Unit 5 had to be one of our favorite units to complete. N is for Nest was a massive hit with our little ones...and our big ones as well!

After doing our worksheets, blend ladders, short vowel songs, and reading our book for this unit it was time for some projects!

My father has an interest in birds and gave us several bird themed magazines. We went through the magazines and chose the birds we liked the most. After picking our birds we discussed the birds names, where they lived, the types of nests they used, what they ate, and any specific characteristics of the chosen bird. We then pulled out every 5 yr olds favorite items....scissors and glue! The girls enjoyed making collages of their favorite birds to hang in their rooms. Even the big girls and their brother got in on the action.

After learning all about birds it was time to become birds! I announced that they were all little birds and we needed to start making our nests. I expected the kids to make small life sized nests....nope...they were making nests big enough for them to actually climb into! Luckily our farmhouse is on the edge of a large wooded area. The kids spent the evening searching for sticks and other building materials.

My favorite would have to be watching them "fly" their sticks in to their nests!

After their nests were done of course they needed eggs to fill them with. I volunteered some plastic Easter eggs for the project. Nope. That wasn't going to work for my birds. They wanted REAL eggs...from my fridge. I could just imagine 6 rotten eggs in random places in my backyard. I could just smell the rotten stench when one was "found" with a foot. I couldn't do it. I had some really disappointed children. If you are doing this project and think your children will want real eggs I would recommend hard boiling some eggs before hand.

The end of our N is for Nest unit included seeing some real birds in action. We have been very lucky to have three birds nests on our front porch. Two of the nests are in current use by Barn Swallows. The children have enjoyed watching the mama and daddy birds come and go. They love to talk about the eggs and count how many each nest has as the days go by. I am sure when the eggs finally hatch there will be a lot of commotion at our house.

I couldn't have planed this next thing if I had tried. While at my parent's house we found a baby bird inside their living room! I managed to catch the bird and released it back into the wild. We did take a moment to gently examine the little (very mad) guy. 

As you can see we had a wonderful time with this unit! If you have completed N is for Nest I would love to hear about your projects!