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An Easy Home School Nature Project

By Tom Hodgson. House wren in nest box.

By Tom Hodgson

Being home bound for such a long time is hard on children and parents alike.

So here is an easy, inexpensive project that can be completed by children in second grade and up. All you need for this simple and fun project are a few 6-inch clay flower pots, a piece of shingle or scrap lumber, a small hammer, and some garden twine. I have done this project very successfully with children of Brownie or Cub Scout age or older many times.

What will you be making?

A flower pot wren house, of course.

Photo by Tom Hodgson. House wren singing.

The house wren is one of our most common and enjoyable backyard birds. Its beautiful, bubbling song is a joy to hear in spring and summer.  The house wren is a small, compact bird with a brown back and a light, un-streaked belly. It carries its short tail at a jaunty, upward angle.  Both male and female look alike.

Because house wrens are equally at home in the city or the country, anyone with a few trees in their backyard should be able to attract them. I learned to make these as an elementary school child. That was, of course, a time when all flower pots were made of clay and every garage had what seemed like an unlimited supply.

I was so excited about making something myself that I didn’t stop at just one. I put half a dozen in my backyard, fully expecting to attract a whole flock of wrens. I soon learned my first lesson about animal territories. Since wrens nest two to three times each season, they provided me with a whole summer of entertainment and learning.   

The complete instructions for this project are a little lengthy for this article so I have attached a printable PDF for those who might be interested. The instructions are at the bottom of this column.

To see and hear a house wren, click on this link.  https://youtu.be/IvmVzZ3mjOE.

Have fun.

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