A nest is noisy book review and bookish play

One of the routines that has become part of our mornings these days is bird watching.  It started as this moms desperate way of trying to get the daughter to drink her milk.

After our breakfast we would go to the front porch, watch the birds on the trees and neighbors roofs and we would make up stories around some of those bird families.  And the question of “where they live” almost always come up in our story sessions.

When I came across this series of books by Diana Hutts,  I wanted to buy them all. I do have a huge crush on non-fiction books, so I buy them in the name of my little one but its really for me as well 😉 

There are 5 other books in this series:

• A seed is sleepy
• An egg is quiet
• A butterfly is patient
• A rock is lively
• A beetle is shy

Every single one of those titles are appealing.

I finally decided to get “The nest is noisy”.

A book that walks you through different nests, not just of birds but of many different species
A simple poetic writing explaining how each animals build their habitats and gets it ready for their young ones
Beautiful and eye catching illustrations that keeps little ones engaged

It walks you through nests with different characteristics: spiky, papery, pebbly, bubbly.

It also shows different types of habitats. Sometimes it is hidden like the sea turtles who dig a pit in the sand and hides its eggs. Sometimes it is muddy like the flamingos who erect heaps of mud and makes a small depression to lay the egg on top of it to help protect them from the heights of water. Some nests are adopted like cowbirds and cuckoos.

This book and it’s illustrations will be apt for toddlers 2.5+.  They will learn the details with time at their own pace.  But the most important part is exposing them to the wonders of our nature.  It will spark their curiosity and instill fascination for nature and it’s inhabitants.

We also did a simple bookish play with this book. I made a small nest from an old take out dish I had (yes i hoard random things that has a crafty potential)

1. Line the inside of the round dish with a brown paper.
2. Fill with paper scraps. I used some packing material I saved from a fragile packing long time ago.
3. Cut out a bird outline from cardstock paper
4. Add legs using pipe cleaner. Simply make a knot on both ends to make it stay. It wont be stable on its own but it will stay inside the scrap papers.
5. Cut out numbers
6. I also added a paper clip to clip the numbers for the activity

For this activity, place a number on the bird with the paper clip and ask the toddler to place that many eggs inside the nest. Have them use tongs to get the eggs in the nest for some added fine motor practice.

Do try it and let me know your feedback 🙂

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