Chicks & Chicken-related Stuff

Since we have baby chicks this week, we decided to do a chick/chicken-themed project. The kids got to come over and hold or pet the chicks (rules were set forth in advance, for the chicks' protection). Then we talked about nests and how chickens and all birds make nests. Everyone went outside and gathered stuff to make a nest. Things the kids gathered:

• leaves
• lichen
• moss
• fallen flowers
• dead and living grass
• goat hair (that I have out there for birds)
• dandelions
• daisies (these were pretty nests, obviously)
• pine needles
• fallen seed pods
  
• pine shavings (that I have for the chicks' brooder)

We glued everything together in paper bowls and then they each got to choose a hard-boiled egg to put in their nest (we were going to blow them out, but the kids were tapped out by the time we go there, so I just cooked them instead)



SUPPLIES:

• paper bowls (I found some that even looked nest-ish in their patterns)
• glue (lots of little ones. We emptied at least 4 elmer's glues)
• eggs (we used 2 dozen, including scrambling them for lunch, an appropriate meal for the day)
• pine-shavings for nesting material
• spray glue to hopefully hold it all together at the end.
• baby chicks! :)
  

Birdwatching & Birdhouses

Today we made birdhouses. Then we went outside to find some birds. Some kids made their own binoculars, others took turns looking through my real ones. Those who weren't totally wiped out even made their own little birds out of clay and feathers.



SUPPLIES:

• Wooden Birdhouses
• Paint, brushes, jars, rags, towels
• Glitter
• Silk flowers, glue
• Toilet Paper rolls & tape
• Clay (hair of the dog)
• Feathers
• Googly eyes
• Table cloth, placemats
  

October Project #1

This was our first Creativity Day project: painting and decorating little pumpkins.




SUPPLIES:

• Pumpkins
• Pom poms & glue & toothpicks, for attaching them
• Golf tees & little hammers for hammering them in
• Autumn leaves (collected by kids outside before we started)
• Paint & paintbrushes & water containers
• Feathers
• Destroy-able tablecloth
• Contruction paper placemats
• Paper towels and rags