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Workshop h☉wt☉: bird protection – insect protection city – mifactori

Workshop H☉wT☉: Bird protection- & Insect city

Bird and insect houses and bird city sound atmosphere, built and sung by children.

Summary

In this workshop we explain the city as a bird protection and insect protection area. We build birdhouses and insect hotels as well as protected area warning signs and set them up in the urban space.

Schedule / modules:

Documented is an implementation with 24 children between 6 and 9 years (1-3 grades), 3 adults (2 activists, 1 teacher * in) over 3 days with 4 hours work time for the children (8: 00-12: 00). We did the Worskhop in the middle of September. Individual elements can be detached and imitated individually.

(Documentation written down quickly, no proofreading.)

Day 1: Study trip in the forest

The first day chronologically: -Ddd

1. Welcome, performance game, introduction of the forest atmosphere

In the introductory session, each child should say his name and make an insect or bird sound: “My name is Franz and my bird sound is … beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep”.

Then you do the first “forest atmosphere” with the children: in a forest you hear many sounds and voices mixed up. Let’s close our eyes and everyone makes their sound – we are in a dense forest. Let it run for 30-60 seconds.

2. Presentation of the workshop

Give a short view of the next day.

3rd trip

Afterwards forest or park excursion. We drove to Plänterwald (a city forest in Berlin). The children got a task sheet for the forest:

In addition, they had the task of collecting small sticks in the forest for our bird and insect houses.

Before starting on the blackboard, we showed a few tricks on how to draw birds and insects with simple circles and strokes.

During the trip we divided into three groups. Each group went in the forest in a different direction. Smaller groups make less noise, thus scare away fewer birds. We also had binoculars for bird watching.

You should go early in the morning, then you can hear and see more birds.

4th return: make you want to tomorrow

Back at school, the material is unloaded and to create silence again a forest atmosphere created with the class.

After that – in order to make the children feel like tomorrow – we showed them pictures of birdhouses and insect hotels. One of our coaches – Willie Tomes – has built a bird house favela on the Berliner Klunkerkranich with over 500 birdhouses. Each of them looks different, many are made of found materials: chairs, old Lego, etc. We showed pictures of the favela and individual houses in it via the smartboard. The children have asked many questions and so much desire to get the next day.

Is not Willie Tomes at hand? -), it can be compensated e.g. in which one searches live with an Internet image search for bird and insect houses and together with the children selects photos for closer viewing and talks about it.

5. Material announcement

We asked the children to bring some material for the birdhouses themselves tomorrow, inspired by the birdhouses from our picture search.

  • Exercise sheet for the children
  • Paper (for the drawing exercises, pens come from the children)
  • 2 large carrying bags for the pieces of wood collected in the forest
  • Binoculars for bird watching

Day 2: Build bird and insect houses

The second day chronologically:

1. Welcome & Waldatmoshäre

Short welcome, a forest atmosphere and then give an overview of the day.

2nd round of talks

After that, we sat in a circle to discuss the topic with the children. We have asked a number of questions about birds and insects in the countryside and in the city and e.g. talked about insect killing and bee mortality and what consequences this has for us.

The class teacher happened to be a city beekeeper and had a honeycomb and a few interesting stories to tell about the bees.

With the project we want to give more birds and insects a home in the city.

Duration: about 40 minutes

3. Construction of the material station and introduction to tools and construction techniques

Then we set up a material show and a tool show with our and the materials brought by the students. The students got a safety instruction and we showed them basic building techniques: nailing, screwing, binding with wire sticks, combination of the boards, etc.

We had pre-sawn a few wooden boards for the workshop – loose kits for birdhouses. Fortunately, we also had a big bamboo cane. A tree bus tube has the advantage that it already has closed lots. You just have to disconnect, add an entrance and then the house is ready and can be decorated and painted. This is easy and looks very good afterwards.

How to work here, you have to adapt to your own skills and your own material situation. As a rule, this workshop will not be offered without its own experience in timber construction. From own experiences come own ideas for it. Below is a list of our most important tools and materials. In the net there are numerous instructions for aviary and insect hotel building, which you can follow. It does not matter what the houses look like in the end. However, if possible (and practically always) you should do without glue here.

4. Build

Many people are reluctant to give first-grade, second-grade, and third-grade students the right tools, such as hammers, cordless drills, cutters, and Japanese saws. But even little children are not stupid. As a rule, they do not hurt themselves more often with tools than adults. However, we showed them the correct use of the tools. In addition, we had only a small number of tools in circulation (list below), so you could keep a good overview with a team of 3 people. We took over the more dangerous and complicated hole sawing ourselves, which was not boring for the children, because it is quite interesting to watch it; it is something impressive.

The children should team up with teams of 2, 3 or 4 to plan and work together. The teams were free to split.

We built in the schoolyard. A workshop would work just as well. Outside under trees it is more beautiful.

5. Collating & forest atmosphere

In our time frame, the cottages are not quite ready on this day. When time runs out, all the houses and tools come back to the classroom. For firing, there is another forest atmosphere and a view of the next day.

TOOL & MATERIAL DAY 2

  • 2 x Japan saw
  • 2 x cordless drills
  • 1 x set of wood drills
  • 1 x set of circular saws (Akkubohreraufsatz)
  • 1 x cutter
  • 1 x bits for the screws
  • 2 x pliers for wire bending and cutting
  • Colorful crayons for painting the cottages
  • 3 x hammer
  • Vessels for the nails and screws
  • Crates for material transport
  • 2 x scissors
  • straw
  • Straight pieces of wood and boards of all kinds (some already pre-sawn)
  • Wire – thick and thin
  • A big, thick bamboo tube
  • Branches, chestnuts, pine cones, etc. from the forest
  • Nature cord
  • Nails and screws in different sizes

Day 3: Shield construction, installation in the city, video shoot and evaluation

Day 3 chronologically:

1. Welcome

Welcome and overview of the day. In addition, one last time forest atmosphere “practice”.

2. Division into 2 groups

The class was divided into two groups:

GROUP 1: Went back to the yard and finished building, which was not finished yet.

GROUP 2: Seven students stayed in the classroom using letter stencils and pens on wooden slats to create signs for the city: “Insect Repellent Zone, Insect Repellent Area, Bird Sanctuary, Bird Sanctuary”.

Before the signs started, the students got an introduction to working with the templates. For the drawing of the “prohibition signs” there was a step by step template, after which the children could draw: “No poison”, “No noise”, “No garbage”. With the ready described signs these 7 went to the yard to saw off the signs left and right.

3rd video- & Audio recording of the forest atmosphere

After everything has been cleaned up, the tools stowed away, the leftover wood packed and the birdhouses all set up for presentation on a classroom table, we circle around them and take a video of them: the birdhouses are filmed and in the background the children create their practiced forest atmosphere.

Afterwards, individual groups can introduce their bird house. “My bird house has an apartment for the bird family, a slide at the front, a swing at the side, a rocker on top and a small insect hotel at the bottom – the snack bar for the birds. My bird house is a bird theme park. “

Then we explain what’s going on. We are looking for two or three cottages and signs for the installation in the urban space. The remaining cottages and signs we bring to the palace. The children can look at the project results of the other classes and pack their results.

4. Installation

We go to a playground, which is close to the school. There the children can stay while two adults install the cottages and signs in the city. Installing is a bit complicated and sometimes takes a little longer. If the children were there, they might get bored, so the playground. However, the children miss so an important part of the action – attaching. Maybe you will find a better solution.

If houses and signs are installed, we pick up the children from the playground and walk past them with them. “Our neighborhood is now officially an insect protection area.”

Under a tree we hear birds. We stop and make our forest atmosphere – we talk to the birds, invite them.

On the way back we were very lucky. Only a few meters behind our sign “Insektenschutzgebiet” ran a lemon yellow shining, hairy caterpillar over the asphalt. A big rarity in the city! Our insect protection zone had begun to work directly and the class was already able to marvel at the first urban insects: -).

5. Feedback and completion

Back in the classroom we clarify the last questions of the children and make a big feedback session.

Finally, we all watch together David Attenborough and Lyre Byrd. We can imitate birds, they can imitate us. Let’s start talking.

  • See day 2
  • Additional wooden strips for the signs
  • Buchstabeschablonen
  • pen
  • camera
  • Maybe a ladder

background

A project from the:

The workshop was developed and carried out in the context of “Palace of the projects – the ecological future city” in the Fichtelgebirge primary school Berlin.

The text as well as all pictures on this page are under an open license (CC-BY). So you are free to use. What you have to pay attention to is here.

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Christina Cherry
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