Birds' Nests & Eggs

Make a cozy "nest" out of blankets and pillows and invite your child to join you in the nest to browse through Nests: Fifty Nests and the Birds that Built Them by Sharon Beals.   Ask your child why birds put their eggs in nests.  What hatches from an egg?  Show your child a quail egg which can be purchased at a gourmet grocery store like Whole Foods.   Talk about the qualities of the egg (e.g., round, smooth, small, speckled, light, etc.).

Photo:  Sharon Beals

Fine Motor Skills:
Give your child an elliptical and/or oval stencil template or cardboard cut outs of  egg shapes.  Peterson Field Guide: Eastern Birds' Nests by Harrison includes an excellent illustration of common egg shapes that you can reference for this purpose.  The book also has a page dedicated to different markings found on eggs.  Use your stencil to draw several eggs on a sheet of construction paper and do your best to replicate the markings.  Allow your child to color the eggs.

Math Skills:
Here are two ideas both courtesy of http://www.angelfire.com/la/kinderthemes/eastermath.html.
1. Easter Egg Numeral Recognition -- Get a bag of plastic eggs (any size) and write a numeral (1-10) on each one. Help your child put the correct number of jellybeans inside each of the numbered eggs.
2. Better By the Dozen -- Take an egg carton and write numerals (1-12) on the inside bottom of each space. Take twelve plastic eggs and write the number word (one - twelve) on it.  Help your child to match the eggs to the correct space.  Alternatively you can mark each plastic egg with dots (1 dot - 12 dots) instead of the number word.  

Science Experiment:
Raw or boiled egg?  Provide your child with two chicken eggs:  one hard boiled and the other raw.  Allow your child to handle them.  Do they feel and weigh the same?  Put the eggs on a flat surface and spin them around.  How do they behave?  One should spin and the other should wobble.  Lightly touch the eggs while they are spinning.  One should stop quickly while the other will keep moving.  

Head outside and allow your child to drop the eggs on a hard surface.  Observe what happens to the two eggs.  Encourage your child to peel the hard boiled egg.  Identify the white and the yolk.  
source: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/eggboiledraw.html

Nature:

Take a walk around your yard and look for birds' nests in your trees. 

Snack:
Make Rice Krispies Treat bird's nest with jelly bean eggs.  Follow the recipe on the side of the cereal box.  Give your child a clump of the treat while it's still warm (but not hot) and help them to shape the treat into a nest.  Give them a couple "eggs" (jelly beans) to put inside the nest.  If it's Easter season you can also garnish with a Peep chick as seen below.
  

Photo: http://www.food.com/recipe/easter-egg-nest-treats-418419/photo  

While your child is enjoying eating their snack, read Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller.