Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Cereal Box Robins

There's an old nursery rhyme that says -


The north wind doth blow,

And we shall have snow,

And what will poor Robin do then, poor thing?

He'll sit in the barn,

To keep himself warm,

And hide his head under his wing, poor thing.


It seems to be holding true here. There is definitely a north wind blowing, and promising snow. And, while I've heard rumors of robins in town already, we have yet to see any in our yard. Apparently, they are hiding out until the good weather arrives to stay.

In the meantime, we're reading Priscilla Beiz Jenkins' Nest Full of Eggs, another of the level 1, Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series. And, turning our empty cereal boxes into rocking robin cards, an idea I found on Marghanita's Nature blog, where strangely, to me, it's listed as a Christmas craft. I can see we've got a geography project ahead of us - Where do robins go in the winter?

But, for now the craft...


The girls (my youngest two ages 5 and 3), traced a couple of circles on the back of an unfolded cereal box.


I cut them out, and folded them in half.


And, since our box was orange, I also used it to cut out some diamonds for beaks, and strips for tail feathers, otherwise I could have used construction paper.


The girls added the beaks, and feathers with glue, and we pressed everything flat with cans, while the glue dried (did you know that this months Unplugged project theme is flat?)



Once everything was dry, the girls added googly eyes, and wads of red tissue paper to the robin breasts.



They look quite springy on our windowsill...


...even if the sky outside, does not.


For more story stretching arts and crafts projects for children, check out this week's stART (story+ art) link up, hosted by A Mommy's Adventures.

Or, to find more flat projects click over to this month's Unplugged Project page, at Unplug Your Kids.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

22 comments:

  1. Those birds look so sweet, great craft!

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  2. Oh wow I really really like these, I've never seen this one before. Nothing says spring like robin red breast to me! I also run ABC & 123: A Learning Cooperative. I'd love to feature this in an upcoming post, if you'd like us to please email us a direct link to this post abc123learning@gmail.com

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  3. The robins are beautiful. I need to get out our LRAFO books - we have that one, but didn't read it yet. I hope you'll have a better weather soon!

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  4. Great project! My mom used to sing that nursery rhyme while we were growing up. I had forgotten all about it:)

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  5. The snow managed to miss us and the robins were out in the street this morning. I love the craft...a wonderful way to recycle a cereal box!

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  6. I've seen these half-circle birds around, but yours are especially sweet! Where do you live? It's mid-80s and HOT here in VA.

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  7. Christianne - We're in Montana, in the middle of the Rockies, so a cold blustry spring, is not really rare.

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  8. What brilliant looking robins! Now you just need to be able to hear them sing!

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  9. I keep hoping you'll get nicer weather soon, it has to come soon doesn't it?
    You know this could be adapted to all sorts of things. Now my head is spinning with ideas.

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  10. Those birds turned out awesome! They did a wonderful job!

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  11. Aww, those are so cute! Thanks so much for the how-to, I'll be linking.

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  12. Good job! I love recycled projects!

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  13. Wow these look amazing. I love recycled art projects too. I have to say I was so excited when I saw a robin in the yard the other day! I will have to check the library for this book.

    Thank you for linking up and sharing your book and art project!

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  14. Those are wonderful! I think we will be making these this afternoon. Our sky sadly is not looking very Spring like today either. In fact we are seeing snow. *Yuck*

    Happy Spring!

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  15. these are sweet:)
    http://theadventuresofbear.blogspot.com

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  16. I LOVE your robins! We may have to make some today...

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  17. Hello- I found this craft on Make and Takes and would love to link and use the photo on Ohdeedoh.com tomorrow. Would that be alright? Thank you.
    Julia, Editor, Ohdeedoh.com

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  18. Julia - That would be great! Thanks for asking :)

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  19. LOVE this!! I will be linking for Earth Day this year! Thank you!

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