Bird House Builders

Explore common birds in the United Kingdom and what they need for a safe home with this fabulous "Bird House Builders" scheme of work. Your Year 6 children will learn about bird houses and why they are constructed for birds in our environment. They will get the chance to research common birds and design a bird house suitable for a bird to nest in. This scheme of work will have your children busy and engaged for quite some time, a great idea for an after-SATs project! The lessons and activities will give your children time to investigate some challenging skills such as drawing 3-D diagrams and exploded diagrams, reading and measuring dimensions, planning and designing products to suit requirements, using woodwork skills and tools to construct a product, and evaluating and promoting a finished product.

This downloadable series of lessons includes lesson plans, slideshow presentations and printable teaching resources.

Investigating Bird Houses

This lesson introduces your children to what bird houses are and why they are constructed for birds. Your class will look at images of different bird houses, discussing their appearances and what kinds of birds might choose to live in them. This lesson looks closely at the type of bird house needed for a barn owl, a robin, a sparrow and a starling. There are also opportunities for children to research other birds and record information about the type of bird house they need.

Included in this lesson is a short video showing what it's like inside a bird house for your children's enjoyment.

Materials, Features and Diagrams

This lesson looks at the features and materials used in different bird houses and why they might be used. Your children will learn some new vocabulary associated with bird houses and will be able to discuss design features and their purpose. The slides in this lesson explain to your class what flat pack, 3-D and exploded diagrams are, and children will get the chance to practise drawing these types of diagrams to use later in the planning stage.

Woodwork Skills

In this lesson provide time for your children to practise and learn how to measure, clamp, saw, sand and glue wood together. Your class will love this practical, hands-on experience and will learn some key skills to use in future construction tasks.

Designing a Bird House

Children will use their research skills, diagram drawing experience and woodwork knowledge to design a bird house suitable for a specific bird. They will spend time choosing a common bird to design a bird house for. The slides provided in this lesson question the decisions your children make and there are also opportunities to discuss ideas with peers.

Constructing a Bird House

Children will use all of their skills from the previous lessons and follow their plans to construct a bird house using balsa wood (a soft and easy wood for children to work with). Children will work safely to measure, saw, nail and glue wood to construct an easy bird house. All you need to do is order the right amount of wood and equipment for this lesson!

Evaluate, Make Predictions and Promote

The final lesson in this scheme of work allows your class time to evaluate their finished bird house and discuss their successes and failures. Children will also make predictions about the success of their bird house and whether birds would use it. There are opportunities for children to promote their bird house to garden centres and potential buyers.