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You are here: Home / Crafts / How to Make a Stunning Birds Nest Craft

How to Make a Stunning Birds Nest Craft

April 16, 2014 by Sue Lively

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Wouldn’t you love your child to make this stunningly realistic homemade birds’ nest to hold their beautifully dyed Easter eggs this year? Can you believe that my 2.5 year old son basically made this nest by himself (with very little assistance from me)?

Learning about birds and spring, while developing a little scientist, is all a part of today’s birds’ nest adventure!

Birds' Nest Science and Kids' Craft

Amazon Affiliate links have been included in this post. Please see disclosure for more details. 

Making the Birds Nest

birds nest and ladybug 002

Onetime’s Challenge – to build a nest for “Little Birdie”

You Will Need:

  • White Glue
  • Lots of string cut up into 5-6 ” lengths
  • Shredded paper
  • Spanish moss, or other decorative moss
  • Decorative grasses
  • Decorative feathers
  • A balloon and a small bowl

Artistic Note: If you want the nest to look realistic, choose natural coloured materials.  For a totally different look, choose brightly coloured string, shredded paper, and feathers!Materials for Birds Nest Craft

Step 1: Make Your Mold

Blow up a small balloon so it fits nicely into a bowl the size of the nest that you want to make.  In a large, wide container, mix white glue with a little water to thin it out.

SCIENCE NOTE:  While you are getting started, this is a great time to discuss why birds make nests!  What does your child think?

I’ve been working on waiting at least 10 seconds after asking my son a question.  I read recently that children under age 3 can take that long to put their thoughts into words!Dipping String for Birds Nest Craft

Step 2: Build the Nest

Show your kiddo how to dip the string into the glue and then squeeze it or run it between fingers to get the extra glue off.  Then have your kiddo place the string onto the balloon wherever they like.

You may have to help with the first few to get them started and feeling confident about the process.  (It’s okay to have too much glue – it just takes longer to dry that’s all!)

SCIENCE NOTE:  As Onetime was working away – we talked about how birds use all of these materials, plus sticks and twigs to make their nests!Making Birds NestEncourage your kiddo to keep adding string and then other materials until the balloon is covered.

Once Onetime (my 2.5 year old son) got going with this, he had a blast!  He just needed occasional reminders to add lots of glue to the Spanish Moss and shredded paper.

SCIENCE NOTE: While your child is building, ask them what they think birds use to keep the nest together instead of glue.  (Answer: Mud! and lots of it!)birds nest and ladybug 012

Step 3: Drying the Nest

Let the nest dry on the balloon for at least 4 hours.  It’s really hard for little ones to wait this long.  I had to put our nest “out of sight” for a bit!

Step 4: Popping the Mold

Last, it was the really fun part – the popping of the balloon!Popping Birds NestI love how Onetime’s nest turned out!Finished Birds NestWe plan on using this beautiful nest as a centrepiece for our Easter brunch – filled with brightly coloured eggs of course!

Enriching the Learning with Books

Before we made our birds nest, we did a little reading about birds and Springtime and the purpose of a nest.  Our three favourite books for young children about birds are:

1.  Have You Seen Birds? by Joanne Oppenheim and illustrated by Barbara Reid

Kids will learn about many different kinds of birds with this catchy rhyming non-fiction text. Barbara Reid’s plasticine illustrations are wonderfully detailed and endearing.

2.  Fine Feathered Friends: All About Birds by Tish Rabe and illustrated by Aristides Ruiz

This book is very Dr. Seuss-like in a good way. It has lots of rhyming text and provides a great overview of the peculiarity of different birds from around the world.
3.  The Magic School Bus Flies from the Nest

An oldie, but a goodie packed with tons of information and engaging pictures. These grade three students and their wacky teacher go on a fun adventure when one of the kids discovers a bird’s nest. My son loves all the Magic School Bus books – and I enjoy reading them too!

To find even more fun and educational activities as well as positive parenting tips, follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Cheers,

http---signatures.mylivesignature.com-54492-148-B2524E373EB83CD9208A38EFC01C9FF5 (1)

 

 

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Filed Under: Crafts, Science Tagged With: birds, Easter

Previous Post: « How to Make a Cute 3D Ladybug Craft
Next Post: 6 Simple Humpty Dumpty Egg Experiments »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. snottynoses says

    April 21, 2014 at 4:21 pm

    This looks great. My kids will love to have a go. (Wish I’d read it before our walk, there was so much grass that would have been fabulous!)

    • Sue Lively says

      April 21, 2014 at 8:51 pm

      Thanks Snottynoses! Hope they have fun – I know we did! I never even thought about collecting grasses – our grass just came from the dollar store! LOL

  2. Emma @ P is for Preschooler says

    April 22, 2014 at 6:23 am

    What a great idea! We tried to make a nest with just twigs and mud – didn’t work (and very messy!) This one looks like a lot of fun – and is a great way to learn about nests!

    • Sue Lively says

      April 22, 2014 at 8:06 am

      Thanks Emma! Don’t kid yourself – this IS messy! But SO much fun and easy to get great results!

  3. Jenny says

    April 24, 2014 at 1:19 pm

    This is so lovely! love that you combined natural materials and yarn!

    • Sue Lively says

      April 24, 2014 at 2:08 pm

      Thanks Jenny! Another reader suggested you could even collect your own materials outside too – which would be a whole other adventure! But we took an easier route!

  4. Jenny says

    April 24, 2014 at 1:25 pm

    I´m off to make that lovely birds nest. Mine is gonna contain all my favorite yarns and fabrics!

    • Sue Lively says

      April 24, 2014 at 2:09 pm

      Have fun! Thanks for checking us out!

  5. Jill says

    April 27, 2014 at 10:15 pm

    Wow! I know it had to be fun to make and it turned out beautifully.
    Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!

    • Sue Lively says

      April 28, 2014 at 7:26 am

      Thanks Jill – I couldn’t believe how well it turned out too! It constantly amazes me what such a young “artist” can do! Thanks for featuring us on the Thoughtful Spot weekly blog hop!

  6. Tina Truelove says

    May 16, 2014 at 2:17 pm

    I absolutely love this! I wish I had come across this before Easter but we might do it anyway for a spring activity. We have lots of birds around! Thank you for this great idea!

    • Sue Lively says

      May 16, 2014 at 2:30 pm

      Thanks for dropping by Tina!

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