Bird houses

Birdhouses to hang outside are a fun all year round project, you can tie this into a science lesson too by monitoring the types of birds that visit your houses and chart their migration habits.  To build these houses, I gave students a paper template for the walls.  The side walls are about 4" x 4" square, the front and back walls are 4" x 4" square plus the additional triangle to create the peak of the roof which is about 2" taller.  Have your students cut out 2 of each template shape and scratch-to-attach the walls together just like you would for a box.  Next trace the shape of the bottom of your house onto another piece of flat clay, cut it out and scratch-to-attach it on.  Then drape a flat piece of clay over the peaks of your roof, decide how big you want it and how much of it you'd like to have hanging over the edges, then using a knife or pointy tool, cut off the excess.  Once the roof is the correct size, scratch-to-attach it on to the walls.  Cut a hole for the birds to get it and now you have your basic house shape. 

I gave my students a challenge to add on at least 10 different items to different areas of their bird houses and to create at least 5 different textures on the surfaces.  Remind students to scratch-to-attach all of their parts on well.  The image of the birdhouse on top was named the lovebird house and was themed with hearts and flowers while the bottom image is the monster bird house with the opening to the house being the mouth of the monster and the perch is the arms.  These houses are two very different approaches to the project, but both follow the rules.  I also used high temperature wire in this project, for decoration, for the perch and as a loop in the top of the house to eventually hang your birdhouse by. 

!!!B CR8IV!!!