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Thursday, 16 February 2012

Cute little bird nests


I won't lie to you: this craft was a bit hit and miss. Cakey's aunt gave us some little foam birds as part of an arts and crafts kit. I knew Cakey would be capitvated by them so I put them away for a special project.

On a day trip to the country I noticed a huge ash tree was shedding loads of little twigs.... perfect to make bird nests. This was the HIT bit – Cakey loves collecting and was very excited to pile twigs into a bag to take home for the nests. We also went on a feather hunt which was great fun.

Cakey's nest without the twigs
The next day we attempted to make our nests – this was the MISS bit. How do you get a bunch of twigs to form a nest? Do birds have access to pva glue? Cakey was not in the mood for me to do any research so we had to trudge ahead. I grabbed some round takeaway containers to use as moulds. Cakey saw the containers and forgot all about the twigs and instantly glued in three birds on a big stick.

No amount of encouragement would get her to add twigs so I sat down and made a nest myself. A little bit of pva glue in the bottom of the container, some twigs, a bit more glue, more twigs and so on. I pressed it all down and glued in a cute birdie.

Building the nests
Once Cakey caught sight of my superb nest she got on board... although I think her favourite part was squeezing out the pva glue. After a few days I tried to get the nests out of their plastic container moulds but they were firmly glued in place. Oh well... you win some, you lose some.

Our birdies in the garden
I hid the nests in the garden for Cakey and Boo to find. Eventually the birds were pulled from their nests and they are still happily involved in all sorts of outdoor play.

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Linked to The Kids Co-op, Fun Stuff Fridays, It's Playtime and Family Frolics

11 comments:

  1. Brilliant! I love that you have shared the bits that worked and the bits that didn't - that is what it is all about. It is funny how kids can be into things one minute and totally switched off the next, but I love your nests!

    Thank you for linking to family frolics. :)

    Kerry
    x

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    1. I know, you have to strike when the iron is hot!!

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  2. My Little miss would love this. Definitely going to add it to my project list :)

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    1. Oh good, they were very easy. I like projects that involve collecting something.

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  3. I love the birds... such a fun idea! I had a "miss" last spring when I was so excited to dissect a birds nest. We had watched the birds build the nest, lay the eggs, and even saw the birds defend their home against a lizard. (Lucky nest placement outside the kitchen window). Once the baby birds left I thought we could bring the nest down and tear into it... we would learn so much! Nope, it was gross.. covered in bird poop (of course) and the whole thing blew away with a giant gust of wind. Of course it was more blew all over us than blew away. boo =(

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    1. I would have been so excited too... but it sounds disgusting, what a disappointment!! The 'misses' make for great stories for later though :)

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  4. Replies
    1. Thanks so much. You have wonderful photos on your blog.

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  5. We had some birds very similiar to this that my daughter just loved, I remember her foundly making nests in the backyard and also it stayed in a little birdhouse she made and painted. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Ahh, a birdhouse - now that is a great idea.

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  6. Great thanks I will head over

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