Animal Classification--Birds, Part Three

This activity could go along with any number of the bird books we read. Anything to do with nests and/or chicks would work well.

We made edible nests.

And we liked it.

I didn't take pics of us actually making the cookies or shaping them into nests because I was too busy monitoring the children, but you can probably figure out the process.

You might, if you do this project, want to wait until your cookies cool off a little before shaping them. They would probably stick together better. However, we don't have that kind of patience at our house, so we munged along. It worked.

This was a good project in that all ages could participate. Eli sometimes gets a little frustrated, or we put him down for a nap before we do things. But even an almost 2 year old can fill a nest with eggs.

Step One: Make cookies. We used this recipe for no-bake cookies (known as chocolate drops around here:

3 cups rolled oats
2 TBLS cocoa
1 cup coconut

Mix first three ingredients very well in a largish mixing bowl.

On top of stove mix the remaining ingredients. Heat, but do not boil.

2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk

When very warm but not boiling add to dry ingredients. Combine thoroughly. Spoon on wax paper. Chill.

Step Two: Do not freak out when your children manage to get cocoa from one end of the kitchen to the other.

Step Three: Be grateful that your kitchen is only two inches by two inches and therefore easy to clean.

Step Four: Put wax paper or tinfoil in front of each child. Spoon out a portion of the cookies onto each person's wax paper. Show them how to form a nest. Older kids can figure it out on their own and babies will just eat it. It's all good.

Step Five: Put the nests onto a cookie sheet and chill in the fridge.

Step Six: After supper that night, give everyone a cookie nest and handful of jellybean eggs. Let everyone fill their nests with eggs and then eat the whole thing. Yum.