Project Trays

Bird project tray

We are just starting our home education journey and I have been reading a lot around Steiner and Montessori methods, both of their methods advocate project based learning and it's something we have been trying out. I decided on a bird project as it's something Seth has a lot of interest in at the moment and with spring approaching it seemed appropriate. As we began we quickly gathered a small collection of crafts, treasures and books that we needed to find somewhere to keep and that's how I thought of setting up a project tray, it's portable, it's inviting and it promotes conversation and learning.

My project tray ideas -

• It should provide a sensory experience, whether that is see, smell, touch, taste or hear, in this basket we have picture books to see, feathers and seeds to touch and a bird whistle to hear.
• It could hold crafts that have been made as part of the project, here Seth has made a nest out of string and glue filled with a mix of plain and red cabbage dyed eggs.
• It could contain some books on the topic, fact and fiction.
• It provides a place to display treasures that have been collected during the project, so far we have some feathers and a bird whistle.
• It should have a notebook or scrapbook in as a place to write and record the project.

Some more ideas for things to keep in the tray, depending on age and project, are a camera, magnifying glass, bits of nature, souvenirs, photos and artwork.

What things would you put in a basket? Or do you already do something like this and do you find it useful?

Homemade winter feed for wild birds

Wild birds bring so much joy to our lives. In spring we watch them hurriedly build nests and hear them welcome the new season with beautiful song, in summer we are gently woken by their dozy morning calls, in the autumn they keep us company while we dig the garden and in the winter they brighten bare landscape as they try and make it through the cold months ahead.

The cold weather and covered ground of late have been hard on the birds, so in an effort to help wildlife and save money, last week I decided to have a go at making some fat cakes for the birds.

To make fat cakes mix any hard fat (we use lard) with any mixture of bird seeds, peanuts, dried fruit, cheese and oatmeal. A ratio of 1:4 fat to feed mix by weight works well.

 

 Put in a large bowl and squish with your hands (a willing volunteer/child labour is useful for this).

 Then roll into balls or put into containers and turn them out when ready to use, we store ours in the freezer to keep them fresh for longer.

We have been putting our fat cakes on bird tables and the ground for ground feeding birds and they really can't get enough of them. Bon appetit little birds!