This year I’ve decided to include my own version of nature school for the summer months. Usually, we take the summer off of “school” even though we are learning every day. However, living in the Midwest we don’t have a lot of opportunities for outdoor activities that do not involve snow. So, taking advantage of the warm months to dig into ecology just made sense. We started the summer off with a tour of our metro recycling center. This jump started the learning path for all things nature and conservation. We began to do nature journaling, and I’ve decided to follow the lessons outlined within it. I expand on each day with activities to enforce what they’ve been journaling about. One of the first things we’ve studied were birds and their importance to our ecosystem. This makes a great summer lesson for your kids that won’t even feel like learning, but they are! Before we dive into these awesome low-cost projects, let’s talk about why birds are so important for the environment and for people.
When it comes to birds the most obvious benefit is watching them. They are so beautiful to watch flitting around. It can be so calming to spend time in nature and hear them chirping. My kids love to watch what they are doing and are very curious about their behavior. This can lead to some really great conversations. Birds service to our ecosystem includes everything from food to oxygen. Birds make big contributions across habitats, and they’re crucial for people and the planet to thrive and survive. One of the biggest contributions of birds is that they are pollinators. When we think of pollinators we usually go straight to bees. Where bees are extremely important in what and how they pollinate, birds are just as beneficial in their area of pollination. In addition to pollinating some of our favorite fruits, they are invaluable in their ability to keep entire forests healthy by spreading spores. It’s well known that birds transport seeds. They munch on their favorite berries, and then distribute seeds in their droppings to continue new plants to grow.
Bird droppings are also a great fertilizer for the soil and all other plants. What they eat is almost as important as what they drop. Certain bird can consume as many as 60 bugs per hour. They are a natural pest remover and can help keep crops safe without the use of pesticides. Think of how many more bugs would be bothering us on our patio if it weren’t for birds. This is why it is important for us to help create habitats and healthy places for birds to go to encourage them to stay around our back yards. The average rate of a bird to reach maturity after being born is 37 percent! If we can help them to have a better environment to live in, we can then reap the benefits of what they are capable of doing for us.
Now that you’ve got the kids fired up about birds, let’s get to some easy projects you can make with them to create these bird habitats in your own backyard. We decided that we wanted a birdbath. It is essential for birds to be able to splash around and clean themselves off. This helps to keep them free of parasites and pests, as well as keep them clean. I took the boys to look at some to buy at a local store, and as I looked at the prices, I thought we could make one ourselves. Not only would it be more cost effective, but it would also give the boys a sense of pride and connection with what we were trying to accomplish. So, we headed to the Dollar Tree and the bird bath was born!
All you need for this is one large planter, one medium planter, a wide bowl and a glue gun. It couldn’t be simpler. Apply glue to the bottom of the large planter. Attach it to the bottom of the medium planter. Then you will put glue along the rim of the bottom of the bowl and some around the top of the medium planter for good measure. Sit the bowl into the top of the medium planter and you have a bird bath! We glued a string of greenery around the seams to add a bit of decoration to it. You could jazz it up any way you want to. Fill the bowl with water and sit it outside in the yard and watch the birds come to it. They will love it and you will love watching them.
Another great project to make is a bird house. Birds are always looking for safe places to make nests and care for their young. The best part is that a lot of birds will use the same house year after year. For this project you will need a milk carton. We used a cardboard carton and a plastic one to mix things up. Either one will work just fine. You will need some duct tape, a pencil, hot glue, and scissors.
The first thing to do is to cover the entire milk carton with duct tape. This helps to waterproof the house. We found some very colorful tape that added to the appeal. Once the house is covered, you will need to cut a hole out for the bird to enter. Make sure that the hole is high enough that there is plenty of room in the bottom for a nest. Next you will make a tiny hole below the large hole for the pencil to fit in. This will be the perch for the birds to rest on. Once you’ve put the pencil in the hole, apply some hot glue around it to hold it in place. That’s it!! You can make a hole in the top with some wire to hang your house if you prefer. Otherwise, you could nail it to a fence or secure it safely to a tree.
The boys also made their own bird feeders out of milk cartons by cutting off the top and filling the bottom half with bird seed. There are so many fun ways you can create amazing habitats in your own yard. Hopefully this will get you started on your own nature learning journey, and you can come up with some of your own ideas on what you can do to help the ecosystem. Let me know what you come up with. I love to hear your ideas!
-Nicole