Bird Science Experiment for Kids: How Strong are a Bird’s Bones?

Uncover the secrets of bird bones! Learn about their strength and lightweight structure with our engaging bird science experiment for kids.

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Uncover the secrets of bird bones! Learn about their strength and lightweight structure with our engaging bird science experiment for kids.

bird science

Bird Bones: Nature’s Perfect Strength-to-Weight Ratio

Ever since my daughter got a bird feeder last Christmas, my children and I have been enamored with learning about birds. Since we absolutely love incorporating quality literature and hands-on projects into our homeschool, we wanted to complete some bird science experiments. My boys are about to be 9 and 13, so I needed something for these age ranges. They were both completely surprised at the outcome.

Bird Bones: Amazingly Lightweight, Surprisingly Strong!

The bones of birds are hollow. Because hollow objects are lighter than solid ones, birds use less food and expend less energy when flying. We may not think hollow bones are very powerful, but you will discover the strength of hollow bones in this experiment! This is such an easy and inexpensive bird science experiment. You likely have everything you need on hand.

bird experiment

Materials Needed:

  • Printer paper
  • Tape
  • Paper plate
  • Pennies (if you don’t have any pennies, you can use crayons as well)

How to Conduct Your Bird Science Experiment:

First, you’re going to fill out your scientific method chart. If you need a free one, I have created one for you to use!

Next, wrap a sheet of printer paper into a tube that is about 1 inch in diameter and 11 inches tall, beginning at one of the shorter edges. To prevent the tube from unrolling, tape the paper’s edges. To get three “bones” in total, repeat this process with two additional sheets of paper.

After that, balance a paper plate on top of the three bones while you stand them on end. To prevent the construction from collapsing, it might be useful to tape the bones to the plate’s bottom.

Estimate how many pennies you think it will hold. Write your estimate down on paper.

To find out how many pennies the construction can hold, add them to the plate one at a time. To maintain the structure’s balance, distribute the pennies equally across the plate’s center.

Keep adding pennies until the bones collapse and the structure falls. Then, count the pennies. Was the estimate close? Complete your scientific method chart. My son was very surprised just how many pennies it could actually hold!

Bird Science Curriculum

If you’re looking for a unit study for birds, I highly recommend Rabbit Trails Homeschool or Simple Studies. Both are super affordable, literature based, and engaging.

Rabbit Trails Homeschool Birds Science is intended for all elementary grades, with a booklist for middle schoolers to beef up the material. It contains 16 lessons, with each lesson taking two weeks to cover. This makes it a full 32 week curriculum, which will take one full school year to complete. To be honest though, we tend to condense our Rabbit Trails studies into one week, so it could easily be a half year curriculum.

Simple Studies Burgess Birds is a Charlotte Mason living science instructor handbook for K-4 students. The download includes 45 Lessons corresponding with each chapter in the Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess. There is also an extension pack included that has ideas for older students, crafts, printables, and more.

Need more bird learning activities for kids?

There you have it! A fascinating science experiment for kids. Have you tried the experiment? Let me know down in the comments below!

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