Nest Dissesction
We moved to a new home a week ago,
and my daughter immediately found 8 abandoned wasp's nest as she scoured the
new yard for critters. (Most likely the nests were knocked out of service by
the pest control company who did the latest treatment.)
What do you do with the abandoned
wasp's nests?
You dissect them, of
course!
Plus, we were anxious to put up our
bird feeders and bluebird houses. So, we cleaned them...which meant we
carefully extracted the abandoned nest in the bluebird house.
What do you do with an abandoned
bird's nest?
You dissect it, of
course!
It is so much fun to see what will
happen with a spontaneous learning activity. As my daughter took apart the
wasp's nest, she came up with various "experiments", including, "What will
happen if I put the nest in a bowl of water?"
But the most exciting part for her
was digging through the 4" thick blue bird nest and finding an empty egg buried
in the middle!
We had a fun time recording what she
found and observed. Next, we are going to research how wasp's gather the
material they use to make their nests. And, we'll find photographs of various types of bird's
nests.
Although this was unrelated to our
current ocean unit study, it was too spontaneous and child-driven not to
do! As we were cleaning our butterfly house, we even found a mud dauber nest, which
we will dissect too!
I encourage you to do the same...be
flexible, be spontaneous!
However, bee-careful as you hunt for
abandoned nests!
Michelle
Michelle and her husband Rick
homeschool their 2 children in a teeny, tiny town in the south. Michelle is the
Judge Advisor for the North Carolina FIRST Lego League and teaches science
classes at a local children's museum. Visit her at www.homeschoolblogger.com/eyecorn.
