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Learning About Birds: Avian Egg Investigation

All birds lay hard shelled eggs, which they must incubate. Most birds keep their eggs warm by sitting on them, some birds like brush turkeys build mound nests which actually release heat due to the decomposition of the plant matter they are made from, to help keep their eggs warm. Eggs are a fascinating subject to teach your kids about. An egg has to contain all the nutrients and material needed for a baby animal to form and grow inside. In this post I share several activities for learning about bird eggs!


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Examine An Egg

Let your child handle and observe several eggs of different color and size. Talk about the differences and similarities.

Get out some rubber gloves and a bowl and let your child crack the egg open to examine the parts inside. Point out the white, the yolk, the shell, and the membrane.




Look Up Close

Get out a magnifying glass or microscope and look at a piece of an egg shell. You should be able to see tiny holes or pores all over the egg shell. These holes are how the developing bird gets oxygen!

If you look carefully at the inside of the blunt end of an egg shell, you can sometimes see the air sac. The air sac is a sac of air that forms between the outer and inner membranes. It provides a space for oxygen and carbon dioxide to gather and diffuse in and out of the shell.



Check out this awesome video from Skunk Bear to learn more about eggs and gas exchange:

-How Baby Birds Get Oxygen Inside Their Eggs


Learn About The Parts Of An Egg And Draw A Diagram

Discuss the parts of an egg you saw during your investigation today and have your child sketch and label a diagram. You can learn more about the parts of an egg here: Anatomy Of An Egg from The Accidental Scientist .

Egg Comparison Activity 
Look at pictures of different types of bird eggs. Google Images is perfect for this. Compare the different sizes and colors you see.





The world's largest egg is laid by the north African ostrich. They are 15-20 cm in length, 13-15 cm wide and can weigh over 3 lbs. The world's smallest egg is laid by the bee hummingbird. It weighs in at a whopping half a gram and is less than 7 mm in length. Get out a ruler and have your kids help you measure out the lengths and compare!


More Activities And Resources For Learning About Eggs


The Naked Egg Experiment from The Barefoot Mom- this is a super fun and simple experiment that allows you to examine an eggs inner membrane with the egg still intact!

The Bouncy Egg- a fun spin off the naked egg experiment. Learn how to make a raw egg bounce!

Parts Of An Egg -a video about the parts of an egg from The 4-H Netwok.

Baby Chick Hatching-watch a baby chick hatch from it's egg in this short video from Birdy Official.


If you enjoyed this post, check out my printable bird unit study and the rest of the posts in my Learning About Birds series.



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