nesting

I have always wanted to build a nest.  Must be all those nesting instincts gone wild.  I have seen giant woven nests in books, and one in person, and now many photos on the internet.  When the plan to build birdhouses with the third graders as part of their bird studies fell through, I seized the moment and decided we would study and build nests.  We learned about cup, cavity, pendulum, spherical, and platform nests.  And then we chose locations where the kids thought they would want to "nest".

With lots of pruned grapevine stuffed into my trunk, I headed to campus to start to build the nests.  I was lucky to have volunteers from tweethaus to help me, along with some parent volunteers.  We drove stakes in a circle, and then the kids gathered various nesting materials and got to work.

We built two nests with groups of 8 students, working collaboratively and very creatively.  The nests were unique, and changed character as the different groups worked on them, including several variations of a roof canopy.  We used grape vine, fruit tree twigs, native sunflower stems, and other garden clippings for weaving the structure.  Many other found materials were also used, from sour grass and pine needles for the floor, to flowers and leaves as embellishments, and a barrel ring as the door.   The results were inspiring.

 

The students love having them on campus and love to gather in them.