Nesting Instinct

After our nest investigations last week, on our welly walk this week, we set the children the challenge of creating giant nest that would fit the whole class in. They had to remember what a nest might be made of and find similar natural materials to make their own. There was a great sense of teamwork as they went off to find suitable sticks, soft leaves (using the leaf id cards that they use each week to identify plants that they can touch) and wild garlic flowers. One stick that was found had fungi growing on it and the children remembered that they are not to touch any type of mushroom or fungi. Their learning throughout the year came into fruition, as they carried sticks by placing their thumbs over the tip and holding them behind them, remembering to look for sharp points and thorns etc and asking for a friend to help in order to move larger sticks and branches. The nest wasn't quite big enough for everyone, which led us to a conversation about cuckoos! The children thought it very funny to role play wriggling around in the nest and calling for the mummy bird to come back and feed them!