Up, up bird!

Spring time = baby birds. Baby birds + letter U week = Up Bird!


Birds that fly up in the sky were our craft for this week. (You can't really tell, but the bird in the picture was up on the ceiling.) We helped the birds fly by making them wings. We read The Magic School Bus Flies From the Nest and learned about how baby birds grow in the Spring time and then learn how to fly. Then, we made wings for our own birds.

Here's What You Need:

• Balloons (You can use helium or not. The helium are fun because they fly on their own, but it is also fun to hit the other ones around to make them fly. If you get helium, you need to get them the morning of, or there won't be enough helium left to keep the birds afloat once they have their face and wings.)
• White Vinyl or large address labels for the eyes
• Yellow paper cutouts of the beaks (See extra instructions below)
• Coffee filters
• Washable markers
• Spray bottle filled with water
• Packing tape

Beak Assembly (these beaks come from the mailbox magazine.):

1. Cut out the upper and lower piece.
2. Cut on the dotted lines and fold on the double lines.
3. After you have folded on the double lines, the pointy parts of the drawing should be close to touching. Pull those pointy parts together so that they overlap and tape it together. Do this for both the upper and the lower beak.
4. Flip the lower beak upside down and tape inside the upper beak.
5. If you want to you can slightly crease the beaks in the middle to make them stick out more.

Here's What You Do:
(I did steps 1 - 5)

1. Fill balloons to desired size.
2. Cut out and assemble beaks. Tape onto the balloon
3. Cut out two ovals from the vinyl or address labels and add black pupils for the eyes.
4. Stick onto balloon above the beak.
5. Cut wing shapes out of the coffee filter paper. Each child will need two.
6. Color the coffee filter wings with washable marker.
7. Spray a couple of times with a water bottle to make the colors bleed and let dry.
8. Tape wings on the side of the balloon with packing tape.

As always, if you need help, please just ask!

After doing this a couple times, I do have a few suggestions:

1. Make sure you get the high float helium in the balloons.
2. It's best to try to get them the day of the project if possible.
3. Always get a few extra because some of the balloons just don't handle the extra weight as well.
4. Use the lightest materials possible to insure a better flight.  
5. We used a simpler beak pattern this year.  It was only a top beak and I drew it out roughly like the picture below. (No making fun of my lame paint shop skills.: ) You cut out the shape and fold on the dotted lines. Overlap the tabs at the top and tape them together.