Bird Feeder STEM Engineering & Research Activity

lesson overview

Bird Feeder Engineering STEM Challenge: Research and design a feeder for local birds!

Your students are on a mission to design the perfect bird feeder for the local neighborhood bird population! This hands-on activity includes learning about bird anatomy and bird food, researching local bird populations, and figuring out how to turn recycled materials into an ideal feeder for birds.

This hands-on activity is an engaging design challenge that allows students to work in teams (or individually), apply the engineering design process, and connect math and science topics to real-world applications.

Engineering Challenge: Students will learn about the characteristics of local birds and the different types of bird feeders. Students are then tasked to use the engineering design process to design, build, and test a bird feeder from recycled materials. Testing involves using surprise scenario cards like "squirrel attack" to test the design against potential events. Additional handouts include conducting a group walk for peer feedback and a bird feeder observation sheet for testing outdoors.

Real-world STEM Connection:

• Environmental Engineering

• Environmentally friendly commercial buildings

• Biology

• Rachel Carson, mother of environmentalism

• Bird Anatomy

• Types of Bird Feeders

As with many STEM activities, this challenge can be tailored to students of various skill levels and abilities.

Included in this product:

• Detailed teachers guide with links to resources

• Photos of student examples

• Student handouts to guide them through the design process

• Videos to motivate and support learning

• Editable Google Slides STEM journal for distance learning

• STEM Career Connections and real-world examples

• Science handouts on bird anatomy and bird feeders

• Student recording sheet for each step of the process

• Math connection problems with volume calculations

Suggested Materials: Many different materials can be used for this challenge. Here are some suggestions that worked well for our students.

• cardboard containers

• milk containers

• take out food containers

• fruit containers

• plastic water bottles

• disposable cups with lids

• egg cartons

• string or twine

• tape

• hole punch

• brass fasteners

• scissors

• plastics spoons

• egg cartons

• bottle caps

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Looking for more STEM lessons? Find the Vivify resource guide here: bit.ly/VivifyResourceGuide

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