Design a bird science lesson

Hi, Future Ticia 2024 here, I’m updating this ancient post, to make our design a bird science lesson into something a bit more useful than my original “Hi! We did something fun post,” so that more of you can find it and use it.” This was a great addition to our Flying Creatures or just general Zoology lessons. I now return you to Past Ticia 2011, I’ll be popping back in from time to time with more information.

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.

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The Challenge: design a “bird”

 Hi, see Future Ticia 2024 is already back. This came about after we’d been studying Apologia Flying Creatures and had spent the past several weeks studying birds and learning all sorts of things like:

• Comparing bird and mammal bones (hint this helps birds fly)
• Bird Migration
• Why do birds have different beaks?

But we were putting all of what we had learned into practice designing 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”), honestly, this is the chance to clear out your recycle bin

Instructions for designing their birds

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.

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.

 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 (Future Ticia 2024 has removed most pictures of other people’s kids because of changes in how we think about pictures of kids online, and those I didn’t I’m putting graphics over their faces somehow as I find them, it’s a process).

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, your call…….

End random stream of consciousness that I thought of.

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

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.

We gave them several minutes to play around with their birds and see how what happened with their birds as they tried flying.

Thinking about designing our birds

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 afterward.

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.