[...]... encourage their predictions about what will happen if they conduct the same experiment with them Invite them to explore the materials, and as they do so, encourage them to examine the feathers with the magnifying glasses after taking them out of the water How does the feather feel when they brush it with their fingertips? Ask them to notice whether all parts of the feather feel and look the same What do they... the children that the hard part in the middle that holds the feathers is called the shaff Ask the children to watch the shaft again as they gently bend their feathers Explain that when something is bendable like the feather, it is pliant Say the word together as you bend the shafts over with your fingers and then let the shafts bounce up again Mention that when birds preen their feathers, they cannot... feathers are not from the outer wing of a bird like the outer wings seenin the pictures Point to the picture of a bird 4 with its wings outspread, and show the children the flight feathers underneath For some birds, the flight feathers are a different color than the outer contour feathers Pass a flight feather around the group and ask the children what they notice about the position of the shaft If they... cannot reach all the way to the tip of a tail feather, so they grab the base of the feather in their beaks, and bend the feather toward them If you do the project so that the children approach and explore the materials on their own, lay the feathers out on a table, and tell the children they can experiment with gently bending them to see if they break 2 creative expression through the use of unusual... nests What do they seebesides sticks? If there are feathers, what have the birds done with them to make them part of the nest? Ask the children why they think the birds used the feathers in this way Also, discuss the fact that when feathers become loose in the skin of birds, birds pull them out so that new, stronger feathers can grow Sometimes the feathers become so loose that they fall out by themselves... the table for the children to take as needed During an Attention Getter time, show the children the chart and describe and read the names of each feather part to them Show them the magnifying glasses and encourage the children to examine the feather samples on the chart Show them the writing table, and let them know that if they want to make feather cards that have drawings, feathers, or words on them,... of it onto their feathers As the children experiment, ask: ‘What happens to the feathers?How do they feel and look after the oil is dropped on them?” Using the same procedure as in the language activity for the water absorption experiment, print the children’s observations on the chart or invite them to do so When the children are finished experimenting, show them all the oil-sodden feathers and ask,... think about whether these feathers would keep a bird warm? What do you think about whether a bird could fly with feathers like this?“ At the end of the day’s projects, gather together as a group, and read or have the children read the charts from both the feather/water experiment and the feather/oil experiment Talk about the differences in the effects of the two substanceson feathers Talk to the children... Point to one of the bird photographs Why do we not see any down feathers on the bird in the photograph? (They are underneath the contour feathers.) Hold up a contour tail feather and ask the children which part of a bird’s body it might have come from Which feathers in the photographs look like they have the same shape? What do you thi.& tail feathers are used for? Take out a variety of feathers which... arrange them around the activity table so that all the children will have easy access to them In the rest of the containers, put feathers and Popsicle sticks Ask the children again about what they discovered with the feathers and water Show them the oil, and ask them to predict what will happen if oil is dropped onto feathers Show them, without conducting the experiment, how to dip the sticks into the . over their feathers. Tell the children that the hard part in the mid- dle that holds the feathers is called the shaff. Ask the children to watch the shaft again as they gently bend their feathers feathers, they cannot reach all the way to the tip of a tail feather, so they grab the base of the feather in their beaks, and bend the feather toward them. If you do the project so that the children. position of the shaft. If they need a clue, invite them to compare the flight feather to the contour feather. Show the children the poster and feathers and help them read/interpret the activity