Lesson Plans

Ideas and resources

First Day of Spring – Bird Nest Feeder

by 5 Comments

First Day of Spring
If you are going to be cleaning out your craft room or cupboard as a part of your spring cleaning routine, you can donate any unwanted yarn to the birds. Fill an empty suet feeder full of small pieces of yarn, hang it up outside, and watch what happens!

It won’t take long for you to start seeing bright colored pieces of yarn woven into bird nests around your yard and even your neighborhood. Once the birds have used up every last piece of yarn, you can make your own suet to fill the feeder with.

Learn more about Susan’s yarn sharing and whether it is safe for the birds.

 

Comments

  2. NOT a good idea. Birds use natural’s in there nests for a reason “camouflage”. Other birds and animals might be attracted by the colorful threads. Not to mention the hazard of little birdie toes getting caught in the threads.
    Instead, I would suggest using dog fur (cleaning out the brush after grooming) or dryer lint.

  4. please DONT do this.
    not only will bright colours attract predators to the nest but the birds risk either themselves or their young becoming entangled.
    a few handfulls of straw or hay make a much better option

Have you read?

Books About Bugs Through the Seasons

Growing Up Ladybug and How to Become a Butterfly are both by Stepanka Sekaninova and illustrated by Linh Dao, and they came out at the same time and are on similar themes, so let’s look at them together. 

Growing Up Ladybug is narrated by Mariella, a seven-spot ladybug. She talks about the parts of a ladybug, where they live, different kinds of ladybugs, why humans love them, their defenses against predators and the life cycle of a ladybug. 

The drawings are cute if not always scientifically accurate, it’s not in such a way that’s likely to confuse kids (who probably already know that ladybug mamas don’t push their larval babies around in strollers, for instance. 

It’s a good general description of the life cycle of a lady bug and why we like having them around. 

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Albatross Media. Suggested retail price $16.95.

Similarly, How to Become a Butterfly covers the life cycle of a butterfly, starting with caterpillars eating burning nettle leaves. (Here Amanda is the narrator.) The book talks about a few of the more than 18,000 daytime butterflies in the world as well as other creatures that live in the meadow (there’s that ladybug again, along with crickets, bees and other bugs).

It also covers some of the enemies of caterpillars like wasps and spiders, and the defenses that caterpillars use to try to prevent being eaten. It illustrates how caterpillars grow and change as they molt and prepare to pupate, and what a caterpillar looks like before and while it is forming its chrysalis. And while the book uses the word metamorphasis it doesn’t really talk about what happens between the caterpillar forming a chrysalis and the butterfly hatching. 

This butterfly is a peacock butterfly, and once it hatches the book covers the parts of a butterfly and the life cycle. It also talks about nocturnal moths (though it says nocturnal butterflies are “usually called moths” when moths are actually a different species) and what butterflies do at night. 

I’m maybe a little hard on this book because my daughter is a butterfly expert from way back, but it is still cute and good for the very basic basics of the butterfly life cycle. 

Both books would be fun additions to your bookshelf for younger kids starting to learn about different animals or who have an interest in insects. 

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Albatross Media. Suggested retail price $16.95.

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