Adventures in a Messy Life

Hands on learning for active learners

  • Home page
    • Start Here
    • About Us
    • Get all of the posts now!
    • Disclosure and other blogging information
  • Homeschooling
    • Homeschool Curriculum
    • Why I homeschool (comments from a former teacher)
    • Homeschooling and the Holidays
  • History and geography
    • Ancient History Lessons
    • Modern History lessons
    • American History Lessons
    • LEGO history
  • Science
  • Bible Curriculum
  • STORE

Science Sunday: design a bird

January 9, 2011 Ticia 16 Comments

design a bird

We got together with our friends who are using the same science as us this week, coincidentally on National Bird Day.  I’d like to say we did it because of National Bird Day, but that’d be lying because we discovered that after the fact.

 

The Challenge: design a “bird”

 

Supplies to design a bird

cereal boxes, straws, blue tape (it’s the tape I have right now, there’s a little girl who’s using up all the tape she can find making “presents”)

 

We set the kids to design the best bird they could.  First we gave them some hints of you need two separate wings (front and back), and the back wings need to be smaller than the front.  Then we set them loose.

 

challenge design a birdchallenge design a bird

They eagerly snipped and tore, and generally did a lot of designing, and in some cases undesigning, and then back up designs.  I think they spent a good 20 minutes designing their birds.

lost patience with bird design

 

Eventually the youngest kid in both families got tired of waiting.  So M started making a robot, and Princess headed off to swing.  Bother, in my fiddling I’ve lost the picture of M.

 

I’ve noticed I use the phrase “and then,” in my writing too much.  Actually, Jeff pointed it out to me when he was editing one of my Bible stories for me.  So, now I’m self-conscious about it, but it makes for a good transitional phrase.  I need to expand my vocabulary, or be less lazy, you’re call…….

 

End random stream of consciousness that I thought of.

 

009

Before flying we had to pose with our “birds.”  Or, I should say we made them pose.

 

012013

And then they threw their birds.  There was a lot of cheating as they added in second or third throws to get their birds to fly farther.

008

 

Afterwards we discussed what made the different birds fly better.  Poor Superman’s bird didn’t fly too well, but it made a great trooper ship afterwards.

 

We looked at the bird that flew the best and noticed the wings were narrow, and that it had a couple of straws on it to support itself better, rather than the single straw others had.  One of the other ones that flew well had a rounded corners, which might have helped it fly better.

 

All in all it was a successful experiment, and my kids are already asking when we’ll get together with them again to do the next one.  So demanding.

 

I’m planning on writing a post for later this week with some bird resources I’ve found.  I have to admit the one I’m most excited about was getting that 50% off deal from Currclick on the lapbooking pages for our textbook.

 

So, how about ya’ll?  Any fun science going on this week, or did you find anything out?

STEM flying creatures, Science Sunday, zoology

Comments

  1. Christy says

    January 9, 2011 at 12:49 pm

    That looks like a lot of fun!

    I have some go to phrases that I use over and over again in my writing too.

    Reply
  2. Semalee says

    January 9, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    Just found your blog through Tired, Need Sleep and I'm a new follower! Thanks for hosting Science Sunday 🙂

    Semalee @ Nailing Jello to a Tree

    Reply
  3. Debbie says

    January 9, 2011 at 2:02 pm

    It looks like both families had fun with this project. Great job!

    Reply
  4. Mama to 4 says

    January 9, 2011 at 3:42 pm

    WHAT A GREAT IDEA – WE ARE DOING A BIRD THEM STARTING TOMORROW FOR OUR LESSON. LOVE YOUR SCIENCE EXPERIMENT! 🙂
    NICOLE

    Reply
  5. Mama King says

    January 9, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    I like your writing style. It is very conversational…like a good friend telling me about her day. I also think your pretty funny! I like your tangents.

    Reply
  6. April says

    January 9, 2011 at 4:57 pm

    I didn't know about the national bird holiday! I also use “and then” alot…too much.

    Reply
  7. An Almost Unschooling Mom says

    January 9, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    D, will love this post! He's been working on a glider, on and off all week. And, thanks a lot! I hadn't notice the whole “and then” thing – now, I'll see it everywhere. I use though, WAY too much. It's been driving me crazy, but I just keep using it 🙂

    Reply
  8. Discovering Montessori says

    January 9, 2011 at 6:54 pm

    Nice! I loved how the kids took their time to get their designs just they way they wanted them to be. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  9. Discovering Montessori says

    January 9, 2011 at 6:54 pm

    Nice! I loved how the kids took their time to get their designs just they way they wanted them to be. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  10. Nicole {tired, need sleep} says

    January 9, 2011 at 8:59 pm

    It looks like they had a blast with this! And, can I say, I wish I lived in Texas right now instead of Minnesota. 🙂 Looks like beautiful, sunny weather there! Both Matthew and I love learning about birds; I think I'll save this idea for spring when we naturally start talking about birds – thanks for a great idea!

    Reply
  11. Nicole {tired, need sleep} says

    January 9, 2011 at 9:01 pm

    I'm not seeing a linky for Science Sunday today, and I even wrote a post this week! 🙂 https://tiredneedsleep.blogspot.com/2011/01/crafty-science-experiment-crystal.html
    Let me know if you aren't doing the link-up any more (that would be a bummer though!).

    Reply
  12. Raising a Happy Child says

    January 10, 2011 at 2:37 am

    So cool that your kids can try their hands at engineering. Anna's school has “birds” in school soon, so your resources might come very handy.

    Reply
  13. FairyLover says

    January 10, 2011 at 4:53 pm

    I couldn't help but notice that some of the “birds” looked a lot like airplanes. If my son were doing this they would all be airplanes instead of birds. Or rockets as that is his favorite subject. Looks like everyone had a great time.

    Kathi Still trying to figure out science for my 3rd grader.

    Reply
  14. MaryAnne says

    January 10, 2011 at 10:10 pm

    I love your new Science Sunday button, and this is a very cool activity! I haven't blogged about science activities for a while; I'll have to fix that!

    Reply
  15. MommyWise says

    January 11, 2011 at 5:40 am

    Reading your blog makes me want to add more science into our lives… all we do now is watch Sid the Science Kid. LOL

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Learning All About Birds Roundup | Buggy and Buddy says:
    March 26, 2013 at 8:51 pm

    […] Science Sunday: Design a Bird from Adventures in Mommydom […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ticia Adventures in Mommydom Hi, I'm Ticia! This is the adventures of my family in life and learning. Follow along with us as we share our adventures. We're having a lot of fun and learning as we go.

Help!!!! I need to know:

Categories

300 books made into movies

Copyright © 2023 ·