Chickens Aren't the Only Ones
This unit study explores eggs and egg layers. You will find dozens of ideas for teaching about oviparous animals across the curriculum from learning to read to math, science, art and writing.
Get out some eggs and crack the shells of learning...
Photo Credit: Pied-Billed Grebe nest with eggs
Image Appears In: The Bird Book (1914)
on Reusable Art, Public Domain
Crack open an egg and discover a new world...
Dissecting Eggs
One day I gathered the children around to learn about birds and eggs. We had read several books about eggs and had seen birds flying overhead in the playground. This particular day I had brought in a couple of dozen eggs to dissect. When I started pricking the shell and flaking off the chips to reveal the membrane all of the children were silent, staring in awe at the wonder.
After showing the children how an egg could be taken apart, I gave each of them a Common Pin
Later on, we wrote a class book about our experience with dissecting eggs. Each of the children drew a picture to go with the information that we had discovered. Even the most easily distracted child was completely engrossed in the activity.
That day, no one wanted to go home. They wanted to continue learning about eggs and the animals they come from. This was the beginning of our unit study on Oviparous Animals, animals that lay eggs.
Photo Credit:Egg Gathering on Flickr, Creative Commons.
Egg Dissection Quiz
What do you know about dissecting an egg?
Photo Credit: Egg Shell
From WPClipart
Before you start to dissect an egg with your children you need to think about all the parts of the egg so that you can carefully peal back the various layers. Answer any questions the children may pose as you go along. Use all five senses when exploring your egg. (Be sure to cook the egg before tasting it.) Which sense would you use first to explore an egg? Before showing the egg to the children have them sit on the floor with their eyes closed. Tell them that you will be passing around something that is easily breakable. Try to pass it all around the circle without opening their eyes. Tell them that they may smell it at that time as well.
Oviparous Animals
Unit Studies of Oviparous Animals
Female Emperor Dragonfly Laying Eggs
Turtle Laying Eggs
Atlantic Salmon Laying Eggs
Each Available at Allposters
Turtle eggs such as those of the Pacific Ridley Turtle, above, are round and resemble ping pong balls. Did you realize that turtles are oviparous animals?
Turtles lay their eggs in the sand. You will find a math activity to accompany an exploration of turtles and their eggs on How many eggs in the nest?
I find that this Oviparous Animal Unit Study works especially well after studying Frogs or Alligator Pie and fits in nicely with the units on Bluebirds and Purple Gallinules.
Oviparous Animal Quiz
Which animals lay eggs?
Four Eggs in a Nest
Available at Allposters
When we think of eggs we usually associate them with the chicken eggs available in grocery stores. Few people today raise there own chickens for eggs and it would be rare to find someone in the world who obtained their eggs from the wild. But chickens aren't the only animals to lay eggs.
Language Arts
Chickens Aren't the Only Ones
Reading about Oviparous Animals
I like to start my Oviparous Unit Study by reading Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller which talks about the many animals other than birds that lay eggs. Ideally it is best to have a big book version of this book so that all the children can see the words as you read.Having several copies of the regular sized book means that several different children can read about oviparous animals during silent reading time. The Big Book version is wonderful for when you wish to read to the whole group as everyone is able to see the words and pictures.
Photo Credit: Shared Reading
on Flickr, Creative Commons.
Oviparous Poems
Poems of Eggs
Eggs (To the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
Lots of animals come from eggsSome with fins
And some with legs.
Some that chatter
And some that cheep
Some that fly
And some that creep.
Some that slitherAnd some that run
Some with feathers
And some with none.
Animal eggs can be quite small
Or just as big as a tennis ball.
They're quite a few
Hatch from eggs
And lay them, too.
-Unknown Author
Photo Credit: Salmon and her eggs on Wikipedia, Creative Commons.
Photo Credit: Laying eggs on Flickr, Creative Commons
How to Teach with Oviparous Poetry
Oviparous Animals Morning Meeting Activity
Photo Credit: Circle the word Eggs!
on Flickr, Creative Commons
One of our favorite Morning Meeting Activities is to sing or chant a poem. I write the words to the poem on large chart paper in letters large enough for all the children to read along. Once we know the poem or song very, very well, we begin to look for words we know or can guess the meaning of.
If you laminate
the poem you can use dry erase markers to find words such as eggs and draw ovals around then. You might point out that eggs are usually oval shaped.
Frog Eggs and Morning Meeting Quiz
What can children learn about eggs from the Morning Meeting Message?
What color are bluebird eggs?
Do you have houses for your bluebirds?
Photo Credit: Bluebird Eggs
on Flickr, Creative Commons
Bluebirds, like all other birds, are oviparous animals. By placing a row of bluebird houses along the fence line between the yard and the field, you can create an ideal habitat for bluebirds to nest and lay their eggs. With a window facing the row of bluebird houses you can easily observe when the bluebirds are nesting, laying their eggs and feeding their chicks. How many bluebird houses do you have?
- White Bluebird Eggs
- General information on how to attract nesting bluebirds, including distinguishing nests and eggs of other cavity nesters, heat, dealing with house sparrows, data on bluebird trail.
In marble walls as white as milk...
An Egg Poem by Mother Goose
In marble walls as white as milk,
Lined with a skin as soft as silk,
Within a fountain crystal clear,
A golden apple doth appear;
No doors there are to this stronghold,
Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.
Photo Credit:
Hummingbirds Nest and Eggs
Egg Poems
Poems about Eggs
One of the things that I like about poetry is the way it lens itself to repetition, something that is needed for helping children begin to recognize words when they are beginning to read. Here are some wonderful poems written about oviparous animals. I post poems about eggs and oviparous animals near the rug where we choose a few to read each day. The same poems are written on egg shaped paper and formed into books and placed in a bin for reading during Silent Reading time.
Lullaby for Eggs, A Poem Written in 1955 by Betty Bridgman, Lullaby for Eggs is a beautifully illustrated book that children will love to hear read to them. Aleph-Bet Books actually has a first edition available. What a treasure!
Photo Credit: Lullaby for Eggs, A Poem
Available from Aleph-Bet Books Used by permission
Egg Poems
Poems About Eggs
Children love reading poems together each morning when we begin circle time. As we read these poems about eggs we wonder which animals laid the eggs? The children start to recognize the word egg and soon are able to find many more egg related words in the text of the poetry.
Another learning center activity that my children enjoy is Circle the Eggs. In this center, the children use Dry Erase Markers on laminated
Photo Credit:Egg Poems (Poetry Paintbox)
Available on Amazon
Platypus Facts Poem, monotreme poem, Science poems/biology
Platypus,
Platypus,
What could you be?
You're not really a mammal,
You're nothing like me!
You got...
Kind of a duck's bill,
You like to lay eggs, ...
Read the rest of this poem at Mr. R's World of Math and Science3 points
Poets' Corner - Robert Louis Stevenson - A Child's Garden of Verses
Nest Eggs
Birds all the summer day
Flutter and quarrel
Here in the arbour-like
Tent of the laure
Here in the fork
The brown nest is seated;
For little blue eggs
The mother keeps heated.
While we stand watching her
Staring like gabies,
Safe in each egg are the
Bird's little babies.
Soon the frail eggs ...
Photo Credit: Robin Nest Howard Jones
on WPClipart
Egg Poem and Chick Song Lesson Title: Hatching Chickens
Each year we eagerly await the arrival of spring to listen to the Spring Peeper and anticipate the discovery of frog eggs in the vernal pools. Frogs lay their eggs in pools, ponds, and puddles. As snow melts, low lying areas fill with water and frogs start looking for a place to lay their eggs. On o...1 point
Books about Eggs
Oviparous Animal Books
I love to read to children. Reading builds common understanding of any subject that we are studying.When studying oviparous animals I like to have a wide variety of books about egg laying animals.
We start with a book like The Robins in Your Backyard
because we had all seen the nests around our neighborhood and then go on to more exotic ones such as Turtles In My Sandbox
.Photo Credit:Vintage Birds Print by LadyLovelace
See other Vintage Posters
Available on Zazzle
Crack the Eggs and Spell
Crack the Code with this fun printable game.
Home Education Resources has a delightful game related to oviparous animals that will help young readers read and identify short vowel, cvc words. A word is written on the back of an egg. The children read the letters, determine whether or not it is a real word. When they discover a word, they write it on the chick recording sheet. Each recording sheet has four chicks. The winner of the game is the first one to find four short vowel words and fill in all the spaces on their game card.Photo Credit: Cracked Egg
on WPClipart
- Get Crackin Printable Reading Game
- Get Crackin' phonics reading game: printable game in full color. Practice reading and writing short vowel words. A FUN way to practice valuable language skills!
Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg
Learning Place Value with Silkworm Egg Beads
Silk Moth, Egg Laying, UK Photographic Print
Available at AllPosters.com
Female silk moth lays about 300 to 500 pinhead-size eggs. They usually hatch about 7 - 14 days later. These numbers are quite large and meaningless to children so in order to understand these numbers we count out groups of 100 white beads until we have 500 beads.
First we count Silkworm Moth Eggs (10 beads) and put them into a small cup. Once we have ten small cups we combine those eggs to make a group of 100 Silkworm Moth Eggs in a small bowl. Soon we have 500 Silkworm Moth Eggs.
Later we pour the eggs into the Sensory Table so that the children can continue to practice counting during math center choice time.
Silk Moths lay Eggs
Silk Worms are Oviparous
Silk Moths lay eggs in large quantities. The large number of eggs laid by silk worms and other insects assure survival of the species. Since insects are usually at the bottom of the food chain, they need to produce many individuals in order to assure that there are enough adults to breed and lay eggs the following year.
An Extraordinary Egg
Let's Read about Eggs!
2. Attach a paper fastener to one side so that the egg can open and close.
3. Make an egg hatching animal and glue it to the back of the bottom shell.
4. Write a riddle about the creature inside.
5. Share your egg and riddle.
It Started as an Egg
- It Started as an Egg
- Read the science behind how a chick hatches from an egg at a reading level appropriate for the early grades.
- It Started as an Egg
- Lesson Plans, ideas, poems and activities to accompany It Started as an Egg for early childhood educators and parents from Hubbard's Cupboard.
Which Came First the Chicken or the Egg?
Can we find an answer to this oviparous question?
Photo Credit: chicken or egg
on Flickr, Creative Commons
You knew I was going to have to ask it! Didn't you? So now you have to answer:
Which Came First the Chicken or the Egg?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byIt must have been the Chicken.
lauren says:
a dinosaur
Posted January 05, 2012
SaintFrantic says:
that's tricky because it might be something else before it mutated.
Posted October 06, 2011
333ideas says:
I think only God knows. But my quess would be the chicken because God made people, animals, birds, ect. to reproduce. So I think the chicken came first. Visit my page and give me your opinion on it. www.squidoo.com/anything-to-save-a-buck
Posted September 26, 2011
Beth Simpson says:
answer: came first is the life
This seems to have attracted a lot of attention.
Beth Simpson
mnc77lab@yahoo.com
50 East Oak, Chicago, IL 60611
Tel 312.943.0660 Fax 312.943.9839
http://eblogz.net
Posted September 24, 2011
kmcvay says:
I clearly don't know squat about eggs, judging from my dismal scores :-(
Posted September 23, 2011
cffutah says:
I figure the answer to this is just like Adam & Eve ... people were here first and then the babies came.
Posted September 21, 2011
cheech1981 says:
the chicken and the egg were simultaneously created by god almighty and then involved into the chicken and egg omelet!
Posted September 11, 2011
Frischy says:
Well, at my house it was the chicken that came first. We have had them 4 months and still waiting for the egg.
Posted August 16, 2011
workingmomwm says:
Had to be the chicken. Where would the egg have come from?
Posted August 11, 2011
Catherine Owen says:
bok bok?
Posted June 27, 2011
LikinTrikin says:
That's an easy one !!! it's the EGG of course...
No wait...the CHICKEN !!
Oh NO NO...the EGG !!
OK...gotta be the CHICKEN !!
Hold on ...it's the EGG !!
Posted June 13, 2011
orlifan66 says:
chicken came first.....hens don't need a rooster in order to lay eggs.
Posted May 12, 2011
karmicchristian says:
Obviously the Rooster, to impregnate the chicken for it to lay the egg.
Posted April 28, 2011
LilliputStation says:
I also believe in the Biblical account of creation, so the chicken (and the rooster) came first.
Posted March 29, 2011
alison shea says:
justin bieber and taylor swift
Posted March 21, 2011
alison shea says:
fish
Posted March 21, 2011
guardianstar77 says:
Agreeing with compugraphd--I believe in Divine Creation and, therefore, believe God created the chicken first and gave it reproductive rights--just as He did with us.
Posted March 15, 2011
compugraphd says:
ב"ה
Since I'm an Orthodox Jew, I believe in the biblical version of creation -- so I believe that the chicken came first, just as Adam and Eve came as full grown human beings, so, too, did the animals come as full grown animals.
Posted February 01, 2011
SnoopyGirl1 says:
am with Pamela... God made the chicken and the chicken made the egg.
Posted January 09, 2011
kitty says:
the chicken because the chicken has homones that build the chick and the egg wont have that straight away.
Posted October 22, 2010
Magicality says:
Chicken came first. An egg needs a specific protein to be made, only available in the ovaries of the chicken, so chicken must have been first.
Posted October 04, 2010
Kyven says:
The chicken came first, it layed the egg.
Posted March 30, 2010
JoyfulPamela says:
Genesis says that God made the animals, not God made the eggs. :)
Posted March 12, 2010
olivia says:
the chicken came first because it was inside the egg
Posted March 04, 2010
secret says:
chicken did. if the egg came first , there is no chicken yet right? the egg has nothing to keep it warm to hatch also there is no chicken to lay it . Adam and Eve came first , not the baby . thats why!
Posted February 22, 2010
LaVerne Beauchamp #280203991001 says:
My humble opinion comes from a biblical standpoint. God simply created Adam as an adult male and Eve from his rib as an adult female. The embryo as we know it could survive outside the womb of a female body; unable to procreate and sustain itself without a mother to nurture. The same would apply with all creatures. First male and female animals 2x2 aboard Noah's Arc. Procreation, hence oviporous animals are able to properly nurture those eggs with love warmth etc... the cycle continues.
Posted February 19, 2010
On a lens like this I have to go with the Oviparous answer.
buying chickens says:
Its a philosopher's question. I'd say that they came at the same time :)
Buying Chickens
Posted December 08, 2011
whiteskyline says:
I am inclined to say both, though I also chose the Oviparous answer :)
Posted November 20, 2011
jaminogue says:
Creatures hatched out of eggs before the chicken came along. Great lens.
Posted October 05, 2011
LisaMarieArt says:
Obviously the egg. The question is asking which came first and there is no suggestion it is referring to only chickens and chicken eggs. Since dinosaurs laid eggs and were around a long time before chickens it can only be 'the egg'.
Posted September 21, 2011
lepis22 says:
of course egg came first, even our world is an egg that waiting for hatching :)
Posted August 21, 2011
mcsammer4 says:
Egg, dinosaurs came from eggs and they came before chickens. So the egg must have been first
Posted August 08, 2011
EcoGecko says:
The egg, a bird laid an egg and a mutated bird hatched out which laid another who laid another (this carries on) until one day a weird mutated chicken bird hatched out. Not forgetting independent assortment and crossing over in the egg causing variation.
Posted June 23, 2011
achraf says:
I would say McDonald's came first; they made the first chicken!! :)
Posted May 26, 2011
nadjaiskeniskie says:
Neither. But their is no "other" option in the poll **sad face**
Posted May 25, 2011
skiesgreen says:
I think the reptile came before the chicken which came after the egg
Posted May 18, 2011
Larbin says:
Dinosaurs had the eggs long before the Chicken started to wake us up in the morning...duh!
Posted April 23, 2011
LensSeller says:
The chicken errr.... or was it the egg?
Hmmm, trickier than I thought :-)
Posted April 23, 2011
H3X0 says:
whatever animal evolved into the chicken must have laid an egg that would hatch into the first chicken.
Posted April 16, 2011
Renee says:
Well, i say they were made at the same time.
Posted February 14, 2011
Elena says:
the egg....because LoooooNG before chickens, other animals were laying eggs. ;)
(Note: you didn't say which came first, the chicken or the chicken egg)
Posted February 10, 2011
Gloria says:
The chicken,becaus God make the egg just like Adam and Eva.And the chicken laid the egg .Ok I don't know how the chicken laid the egg in the time when there was no ...........the boy chicken!I don't know,maibe was two eggs******don't know!
Posted February 06, 2011
emma says:
the egg because tiny little paricles and atoms built the egg and it hatched and as it avolved the eggs needed to be fertillisted.
Posted December 04, 2010
blue22d says:
This is a wonderful lens. I am just glad that a breakfast time, there is an egg in my fridge, not a chick!
Posted November 01, 2010
clara denise mansfield says:
your wrong god made the egg
Posted September 02, 2010
david says:
egg
Posted April 23, 2010
kodee says:
i say that the egg came first
Posted February 05, 2010
tigre7 says:
they alternate like day and night, an earth has a moon
eggs are kept in a nest, under a bird for weeks to hatch out.
Posted January 02, 2010
kab says:
"one day that pteradactyl layed and egg and when it hatched it was a chicken"??? Hardly!
The egg game first, there were eggs long before there were chickens. Dinosaurs, Amphibians, Fish...
Posted March 22, 2009
Find the EGGS
Learning Upper and Lower Case Egg Letters
Photo Credit: Letter E on Flickr, Creative Commons.
Photo Credit: Letter G on FreeFoto, Creative Commons
Make lots of cards with the letters in the word eggs. These words could be cut and pasted from magazines or newspapers or from the Internet. Cut out the letters e, g, and s from magazines. Try to find as many different fonts as possible. Use both upper and lower case letters.
You might ask parents to send them in or assign this for homework. Include index cards cut in half so that parents can help the children glue them to the cards.
Find the EGGS Game:
1. Spread out all the cards face up.
2. Race to see how many EGG words you can make before the egg timer runs out of sand.
This game helps children recognize the letters in different fonts and learn to spell the word eggs.
Store the letters and timer in a large plastic egg like the ones that came with pantyhose or in an egg basket.
Variation: Place different amounts of letters in different colored eggs and have the children tally and record the numbers of times they could spell the word eggs with the letters provided. Color coded answers could be written on the bottom of the egg carton where the eggs are stored for self checking.
Create a Matching Egg Game
Match the Color Words Print to Cursive
Help your children learn to read color words in both print and cursive. Color each of the eggs and then play matching games. If you make two sets of each color, you could leave one set white to assure that the children are actually reading the words.
Oviparous Writing Activities
Classroom Activities for teaching about Eggs and Egg Laying Animals
Photo Credit: Ab ovo: From the Egg
on Vamp and Tramp Booksellers
Used by permission.
This egg shaped book was created by artists Peter and Donna Thomas. They used an accordion fold in the shape of an egg to form the shape of the book and hold the pages together. The shape makes you anticipate the content of the book which includes illustrations of birds, Easter Eggs and quotes such as "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg...."
Artist's books such as this egg book are wonderful examples to have and read to the children throughout the oviparous animals unit to encourage artistry and creativity in the children's own writing. This egg shaped book is available at Tramp and Vamp Booksellers.
Create egg shaped books for your Oviparous Animal Stories. Learn all about the various kinds of animals that lay eggs and then write a story about them in an egg shaped book to add artistry, imaginations and novelty to writing workshop...
The Encyclopedia of Eggs
Search the Eggcyclopedia for Egg Facts
The American Egg Board has assembled a whole encyclopedia of information about eggs from Air Sacs to Zeaxanthin, you will find more information about eggs than you knew there was to know. Did you know that Zeaxanthin is in green leafy vegetables and that the yolk of eggs helps you to absorb it?
This is the perfect site to send your inquisitive learners who are able to read quite well. Consider pairing good readers with non-readers for an egg-citing time of discovery.
Eggcyclopedia
Incredible Edible Egg Facts - Eggcyclopedia. Learn about Eggs with Egg Facts, Egg Nutrition Tips & Egg Trivia.2 points
Math
Oviparous Math
Teaching Math while learning about Oviparous Animals
Teach math by relating it to oviparous animals. In The Whole Language Kindergarten the "teacher places one Unifix cube on the table for each egg-layer the children name."
Here are some responses children might make when asked what kinds of oviparous animals they can think of:
Chickens lay eggs.
Robins lay eggs.
Snakes lay eggs.
Crocodiles hatch from eggs.
Ostriches lay the biggest eggs in the world.
Sharks and lobsters lay eggs in the ocean.
Trout lay eggs in brooks and streams.
Frogs lay eggs in ponds.
Oviparous Math Center Activities
Eggs come in Dozens!
Photo Credit: A Dozen Eggs
on Flickr, Creative Commons.
Eggs often come in dozens. We brainstorm things that come in dozens and eventually make a class book that is kept in the class library or used in a Literacy Bag.
Try grouping things in dozens and then Skip Count by 12's.
- Egg Carton Counting - Busy Mommy Media
- This hands on preschool math activity is simple to make using recycled egg cartons. Preschoolers will practice their small motor skills, number recognition skills, and counting skills as they play this counting game.
- Egg Pattern Center
- 1. Provide a basket of assorted colors of plastic eggs and a few empty egg cartons.
2. Cut construction paper egg shapes in the colors that match your plastic eggs.
3. Glue the eggs shapes in various patterns onto cardstock and laminate.
4. Have your students select a pattern card and then extend the pattern by placing plastic eggs in the egg carton.
5. They can self check by placing the pattern strip above the eggs in the carton.
Green Eggs and Ham Graph
Counting Hundreds of Eggs
'Yum or Yuk' Graph Children can interview their family and collect data to make a 'Yum or Yuk' graph to show how many people like or dislike eating green eggs and ham. Include a sheet of paper and an oval shape to trace around.The children trace an egg for each member of the family, write the family member's name on the egg. ie: "Brian's Mom", "Brian's Dad" and then color it green if they like it, leave it white if they don't.
Provide a Ziplock bag to bring the eggs back to school and attach it to the inside of the journal. At school the child gets to add the eggs to the classroom graph.
NOTE:The graph can be arranged in tens to help learn to count up to 100.
Photo Credit: Green Eggs and Ham
on Flickr, Creative Commons
Adding Up Eggs and Ham
Eggs and Ham Math
The Wonder Forge Green Eggs and Ham Speedy Diner Game
Green Eggs and Ham Math
Make bacon and eggs from pieces of felt. Tacky Glue works well to hold them together.
Kids serve up eggs and ham onto the plate on the placemat, then use the numbers to form the math problems such as 2+3=5. Where 2 eggs plus 5 slices of bacon equals 5 things to eat on the plate.
Egg Timers
What can you do in a minute?
1. Tie your shoes
2. Line up
3. Write your full name, address and phone number
4. How many eggs could you count in a minute?
Count The Eggs
Create your own egg counting card game:
Photo Credit: Counting Turtle Eggs
By Frabuleuse
on Flickr, Creative Commons
Find pictures of eggs from many different animals. Print them onto card stock and write the names of the animals on the bottom of each picture. Laminate
the cards for durability.
Photo Credit: Nest of Eggs
on Moon, Stars and Paper, Creative Commons
1. Print and laminate
pictures of eggs in nests.2. Each player flips over a card and count the eggs.
3. The one with the most eggs keeps those cards.
4. The one with all the cards in the end wins.
Variation: Add a couple of egg predators that make you lose all your cards. For example a snake, skunk or a raccoon.
- Tufted Titmouse eggs and nests and young photographs
- General information on how to attract nesting bluebirds, including distinguishing nests and eggs of other cavity nesters, heat, dealing with house sparrows, data on bluebird trail.
- Rock Dove Or Pigeon Eggs And Nest
- Stock Image of Rock Dove Or Pigeon Eggs And Nest In Scenic Southern Saskatchewan Canada.
Egg Shapes
Why are some eggs round and others pointed?
Photo Credit: Awk Egg
on Geograph, Creative Commons
Most eggs are shaped like hen eggs but there are exceptions. Owls build nests in hollow trees. Their nearly round eggs have no possibility of rolling out. Awks, on the other hand, lay their eggs on rocky ledges. Their eggs are very pointed on one end. Because of their shape, Awk eggs will roll in a circle rather than roll off the ledge.
Invite the children to investigate the shape of various eggs and then go to the clay table to shape and experiment with various eggs shapes. Use Fimo Dough or Sculpie Dough to form egg shapes and bake them. While the eggs are baking, fill out prediction sheets. Once the eggs are dry and cool, experiment with the eggs to see if your predictions were correct. Which ones easily roll off the ledge? Does having a nest in a hollow tree prevent eggs from falling out?
Bird's Eggs - Their Size, Shape and Color
Birds' eggs are not even uniform in shape. Most of more...1 point
Gathering Eggs
Eggs in the Chick Coop
Photo Credit: Gathering Eggs
on Grandma's Graphics, Public Domain
My grandmother took me by the hand and we walked out through the farmyard to the chicken coop. Her hand was warm and reassuring. She told me all about the chickens and the way they laid their eggs, the need the chickens had for oyster shells and how the oyster shells would make the chicken's egg shells hard to protect the eggs from cracking and breaking.
If a chicken lays, on average, one egg per day. How many eggs will you be able to gather in a month?
If you have 12 chickens, how many eggs will you be able to gather in a month?
How many dozens of eggs would you have in a month?
It is recommended that you eat 2 eggs a day. How many people could 12 chickens feed in a month?
Weighing Eggs
Learn how to weigh eggs
Photo Credit: Scientist weighing eggs by Matthew E. Reiter
From the Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Used by permission
Set up an Egg Weighing Center.
1. Provide eggs. Usually we weigh chicken eggs but sometimes we weigh quail eggs, goose eggs.
2. Make sure that the children know how to clean up after a spill and wash their hands thoroughly.
3. Label each egg and provide paper for recording information.
- The weighing of Olive ridley eggs
- The Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation
- Weighing Eggs of Nesting Birds on the Tundra
- Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Population Trends of Tundra-Nesting Birds in Churchill Manitoba
- Perigrin Falcons egg shells were Brittle from DDT
- The weight of the adult bird who had ingested DDT could break the shell.
- Look Who's Hatching!!!
- Below you will find several Science activities. I hope you are fortunate enough to have the stuff for incubating eggs!Incubator Activities Check the yellow pages of your telephone book to see if any hatcheries are located in your area! Calendar Count You will need the following...
- Egg seesaw
- Investigation in how to weigh an egg. Includes step by step instructions and investigates how to weigh the egg. Examines the meaning of the results. Kid friendly. Could be used independently by interested homeschoolers.
Science
Oviparous Graphing
Which animals are oviparous and which animals are not??
Photo Credit: Oviparous and Non-Oviparous Animals
on Flickr, Creative Commons
Gather the children on the rug and begin a discussion about oviparous animals. These are animals that lay eggs. Place a pile of cards in the center of the rug. Have a pocket chart with the words Oviparous and Not Oviparous at the top. Give each child a turn to turn over a card and decide where to place the card. If they need help they can ask for help from those who are silently raising their hands. Are the children surprised to discover that alligators are oviparous?
After doing this activity as a group, some children might like to recreate it during rotation stations. My animal cards have the names of the animals written under each animal. The children can write the names of the animals on a recording sheet.
Dissect an Egg
Parts of an Egg
First we look at the egg and describe the shape. An egg is round, there are no sharp corners. An egg is not a sphere. It is fatter on one end than the other. Hold the egg and look straight down on the egg. Do you see a round circle or an oval shape? In which position do you need to hold the egg in order to see it as a circle? In which position do you need to hold the egg in order to see an oval? Does the egg have symmetry?
You can feel the difference between a hard boiled egg and a raw egg. It is easiest to see a difference when spinning them on a table top. We pass the eggs around so that everyone can feel the difference.
Raw by pussreboots
See more Eggs Posters on Zazzle
Then the children become absolutely silent as they watch me use a common pin to gently chip away the shell of the raw egg. Usually you can chip away quite a bit before you break the membrane. Carefully pass the egg around again.
Photo Credit: Parts of an Egg
From Clker
Carefully observe the yellow yolk to see if you can find the white circle marking the germinal spot. If the egg has been fertilized, this germinal spot is the beginning of the new baby bird. The whites of the egg is called the 'albumen' and comes in two different forms. Some of the white is thick and keeps its shape around the yolk. Some of the white is runny and flows all over the place. Can you see the two whitish, twisted, stringy 'chalaza'? There is one on each side of the egg. Part of these chalaza may remain inside the egg shell after you have poured the rest of the egg out.
Once egg dissection has been modeled, including how to clean up accidents, it can become an independent learning activity. Have lab sheets handy for recording observations.
- The Bird's Egg
- An introduction to the biology of the avian ova, or eggs
- Hatching Chicks
- Watching eggs hatch using an incubator in the classroom.
- Science of Eggs: Anatomy of an Egg
- Bumpy and grainy in texture, an eggshell is covered with as many as 17,000 tiny pores. Eggshell is made almost entirely of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) crystals. It is a semipermeable membrane, which means that air and moisture can pass through its pores...
Hatching Eggs
Hatching Eggs Worksheet and Coloring Pages
Ducklings Just Hatched Vintage Image by angelandspot
Available on Zazzle
Worksheets and coloring pages to use with this oviparous unit study. These pages contain pictures of various egg laying animals and their babies hatching from eggs. Some of them are worksheets and others could easily be adapted to use as worksheet or just offered to children for fun.
Penguin Coloring Page: Penguin hatching egg
Penguin coloring page of a penguin hatching its egg is the perfect printable coloring page for kids who love penguins.2 points
Baby dinosaur is waiting to hatch inside an egg
Dinosaur Hatching an Egg - Brian Funshine - Coloring Page...2 points
The Early Embryology of the Chick
Very technical information on the development of bird eggs with pictures that could be colored.2 points
Birds grow in eggs then hatch. Worksheet - Bird Hatching - Twisty Noodle
Bird Hatching - Birds grow in eggs then hatch. worksheet that you can customize and print for kids.1 point
Hatching Eggs Addition Sheet
Add the hatching eggs, a worksheet for ESL students. Note: This this site requires membership.1 point
Snake Hatching from Its Egg
Coloring page of a snake hatching from its egg1 point
Easter arts and craft designs: coloring pages, stencils, egg and hen templates
For all your Easter craft designs: templates/stencils, egg and hen coloring pages so you can make your own Easter-themed decorations.1 point
BlueBonkers: Free Printable Easter Ducks Coloring Page Sheets - 16 - Easter baby duck hatching coloring pages
Free Printable Easter Ducks Coloring Page Sheets for kids - Duck hatchling coloring page and Easter coloring activities.1 point
Hatching Penguin
Download royalty free Hatching penguin chick1 point
Black Copper Marans Hatching Eggs
Eggs for Hatching
Finding Eggs in the Wild
Have you ever found a nest of eggs?
Photo Credit: Common Tern Nest with Five Eggs
on Flickr, Creative Commons.
If you find eggs in the wild you have had a very special, privileged moment. Hopefully you have a camera. If you don't be sure to draw a picture as soon as you are able. Note the colors of the eggs, the shape, size and number. Notice the shape and size of the nesting materials as well as the location of the nest. Then back away quietly and unobtrusively. Disturbed nests are often abandoned. Finally, come back here and let us all know what a wonderful day you had.
- Wild Eggs at the Dovetail Gallery Egg Museum
- Wild eggs at the Egg Museum of Dovetail Art Gallery.
The boys spent weeks collecting eggs anywhere their legs or their bikes would take them.
Remember that in 1959, people weren't as concerned with conservation of our natural resources and today, folks would be horrified to know that they collected eggs from as many bird species as they possibly could, including wren, chickadee and morning dove to duck, goose, crow and hawk.
The easiest were the birds that nested low to the ground and in the marshes where all that stood in the boys' way was a little water and high grass. - How to Identify Wild Bird Eggs
- How to Identify Wild Bird Eggs. Birds build nests to keep their eggs warm and dry. They also camouflage their homes to hide them from predators. Whether you're an avid birder or just out for the occasional nature hike, you may be lucky enough to stumble upon a nest of wild bird eggs. If so, you might want to know what you're looking at.
NOTE: If you find whole eggs or a birds nest, take pictures and observe it without touching it. In many areas, it's illegal to disturb the nests of wild birds.
Shark Eggs or Mermaid's Purse
Some Sharks are Oviparous
Photo Credit: Shark Egg or Mermaid's Purse
on Flickr, Creative Commons
Shark's eggs, sometimes called Mermaid's Purses are often found on the beach. It may be surprising to find that not all eggs are round or oval. What advantage does the shape of each egg have for the mother or for the babies? Did you know that if you find a shark's egg that is still moist with no obvious hole that is probably still contains embryo sharks?
If you find a shark's egg on the beach, try taking it into the ocean to observe how it moves in the waves. Does it sink or float?
- Shark Eggs
- Most sharks give birth to live young, but some release eggs that hatch later
Oviparity- These sharks deposit eggs in the ocean which will hatch later if they are not eaten by predators. The eggs are not guarded by either parent. Shark eggs (sometimes called "mermaid's purses") are covered by a tough, leathery membrane. - Egg case (Chondrichthyes) - Wikipedia
- An egg case or egg capsule, colloquially known as mermaid's purses or devil's purses, is a casing that surrounds the fertilized eggs of some sharks, skates, and chimaeras.
Did the shark's egg sink or float?
Experimenting with Eggs!
Photo Credit: Dogfish Shark's egg
on Flickr, Creative Commons
If you find a shark's egg on the beach, try taking it into the ocean to observe how it moves in the waves. Is the shark's egg soft or hard? Are there holes in the egg? How do these factors effect the egg's ability to sink or float? If you make a pond and leave the egg in water for a while will it become softer? If so, how does this change effect the egg's ability to sink or float?
Ladybugs are Oviparous!
Ladybug Life Cycle Stages
Ladybug Life Cycle Stages
Ladybug Life Cycle Stages models are large enough for children to easily observe from a distance. They could also be used in a Feely Box for guessing and talking about the various stages of a Ladybug's life. Children often know about the larval, pupa and adult stages but rarely know that ladybugs come from eggs.
Watch Ladybugs Hatch from Eggs
Ladybugs are Oviparous Animals Too!
Painting of the Life Cycle of a Mexican Bean Beetle
Murayama, Hashime
Available on Allposters.com
One day a park ranger friend gave us some Ladybug eggs. We set the ladybug eggs on a table in a container that contained a special gel eaten by Ladybug larva near where we worked each day so that it was always available for observation. The children loved drawing pictures each morning to show any observable changes. They kept notes on temperature, weather outside and noted the amount of sunlight daily in their ladybug journals. Anticipation was high on the day we began to notice the larva hatching out of their eggs. How long would it be before they became ladybugs?
Butterfly Eggs
Butterflies are Oviparous Animals
The very tiny eggs of butterflies are found on the undersides of leaves on plants that the future caterpillars love to eat.One year, in Costa Rica, a park ranger showed us butterfly eggs on the underside of leaves. We were able to go back several times and got to see caterpillars munching the leaves. Then one day in Vermont we stumbled upon a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. I hope some day to see a butterfly lay its eggs.
Photo Credit: Painted Lady Butterfly
on Flickr, Creative Commons.
- Butterfly Eggs
- Look on the underside of a leaf (or under a plant) for butterfly eggs. Butterflies lay their eggs on plants that caterpillars prefer. Butterfly eggs are attached to the host plant with a fast drying chemical or glue secreted by the mother butterfly.
- Butterfly Life Cycle Printout - EnchantedLearning.com
- Butterfly Life Cycle Printouts - Printable Butterflies
- Find a Butterfly Egg
- Discover what caterpillars eat and you may find butterfly eggs. Each species of butterfly eats only a very few types of plants. Look for the host plant of a certain species of butterfly which will have the proper nutrition for the larva or caterpillar of the butterfly. Look underneath the leaves for butterfly eggs.
Insects lay Eggs
Insects are Oviparous
Searching for Frog Eggs
Frog Eggs Lesson Plans
Photo Credit: Searching for Frog Eggs on Flickr, Creative Commons
Photo Credit: Holding Frog Eggs on Flickr, Creative Commons
To create frog eggs for your bulletin board, draw a frog embryo on ping pong balls and hot glue them to the board. Make sure that the frog that sits on the lily pad is proportionally as large. It will seem like you and the children are the size of frogs. You will find interesting, unique, hands-on lessons involving frog eggs in each of these unit studies with lesson plans about frogs that your children will love.
Spotted Salamander Eggs
Salamanders are Oviparous
Photo Credit: Salamander Eggs
on Flickr, Creative Commons
Have you ever seen salamanders on a wet day when walking through the woods? Salamanders need to keep their skins moist just the same as frogs. Many salamanders lay their eggs in water. Some kinds of salamanders may even live their whole lives in water. Other kinds of salamanders may live their whole lives in moist places on land including laying their eggs on land.
Topsy Turvy Salamander by North American Bear Co.
Available from Amazon
The Topsy Turvy Salamander Egg can be turned from an egg to a salamander and back again. It is made from soft velour and its features are embroidered.
How does a salamander's egg differ from a chicken's egg?
- Vernal Pools: When Will The Spotted Salamander Eggs Hatch?
- Trying to guess what night spotted salamanders eggs will hatch would be similar to guessing the day of a first snowfall or when that last pile of snow behind the house might melt.
- Amniota
- Evolution of eggs from soft sacs to hard shells.
- Salamander & Newt Eggs - San Diego Zoo's Animal Bytes:
- Most salamander species hatch from eggs. Female salamanders that live entirely in the water lay more eggs-up to 450-than those that spend some time on land. The California newt Taricha torosa lays a clump of 7 to 30 eggs on underwater plants or exposed roots. The eggs are protected by a toxic gel-like membrane.
Alligator Eggs
Reptiles are Oviparous Too!
Aborigines Gathering Eggs from a Saltwater Crocodile Nest
Buy at AllPosters.com
Did you know that some people eat crocodile eggs? In Thailand there is an annual Crocodile Egg Eating Contest put on by a crocodile farm to increase tourism. The contestants consume the crocodile eggs raw. The winner in the 2010 contest ate 10 eggs.
Alligators are Oviparous
Alligator Unit Study
OK. Now what? by baxiemur
View more Baxiemur Posters on Zazzle
Learn all about alligators and the swamps they live in. Sing the song Alligator Pie. Learn about the nests that alligators build as well as the eggs they lay there.
Robins are Oviparous!
Robins lay blue eggs!
Robin in the Rain is a unit study about robins. It has springtime activities including getting to know three kinds of robins from various different parts of the world. Have you seen a robin in your neighborhood yet?Robin in the Rain! just received a Purple Star Award!
Photo Credit:
Robin Nest
Anderson, Angela
Buy at AllPosters.com
Turkeys are Oviparous Animals Too!
Turkey Eggs
Tobias Turkey is about a domesticated turkey living on a farm. Domesticated turkeys are often raised from eggs in the spring in order to have a large turkey for the Thanksgiving table.
Turkey Eggs
Turkey eggs are larger than chicken eggs and have brown molting on them.
Photo Credit: Turkey Egg
on Flickr, Creative Commons
Turkeys lay their eggs on the ground in leaves at the edge of the forest or in a hollow amongst the grass in a meadow. Last year as I was mowing the field in front of our house I accidentally mowed over a nest but because it was in a hollow I only broke two eggs.
Is there a Platypus inside the egg?
A Platypus is an Egg Laying Oviparous Mammal
A Platypus is an Egg Laying Mammal
Even though the female Platypus has a pair of ovaries only the left one actually produces eggs.
She usually lays two small, leathery eggs. They are slightly rounder than bird eggs and measure about 11 mm or 7/16 of an inch in diameter.
A chicken egg develops for 1 day inside the hen and 21days in the nest. A platypus egg, on the other hand, develops for 28 days inside the female platypus and only about 10 days outside.
Here is an article about the genes of the platypus that makes a platypus lay eggs rather than giving birth to live young: Scientists decode mixed-up platypus genome.
Emu Eggs
Emus are Oviparous as well
Emu Eggs
Photo Credit: Emu Eggs
on Flickr, Creative Commons.
One year we went to the Tunbridge World's Fair in Vermont where they had an exhibit of Emus and their eggs. The eggs are very large and heavy. Their shells are quite thick and seem to be difficult to break.
Emu eggs have three different colored layers making them ideal to carve.
- Learn all about Emus
- From the Maryland Emu Association
The FAQ section of this site is ideal for children interested in knowing more about Emus. The large font and spacing between the questions makes the informative information easy to read.
What is an emu?
How large are emus?
Are emus friendly?
How do emus react to our climate?
What type of facilities are needed for emus?
What do you feed an emu?
When is the laying season?
How many eggs does an emu hen lay?
How long do you incubate an egg?
Who buys emus?
What is the market like at the present time?
Once the commercial market is reached, what will be produced?
Where can I purchase any of the above products?
How can I find out more about emus and who is in my local area? - Emu's Zine
- Egg Artist - Tina Munford describes her experiences in carving and decorating emu eggs.
- Southeastern Outdoors - Emu on Nest
- Mother Emu on Nest showing an Emu chick and three Emu eggs
- Australia Lapbook includes Emu
- Includes a couple of pages about the Emu.
Kiwi Eggs are Huge!
How big is a Kiwi egg?
The Kiwi
Davis, R. B.
Available from Allposters
When I first saw this picture of the Kiwi I thought that it was a baby chick next to the egg, but I was wrong. This is an adult. The mother Kiwi lays an amazingly large egg for the size of her body.
You can help the children learn about measurement by looking up the size of eggs and the animals that lay them. Then draw and cut out life-sized outlines of the eggs, label each egg and then help the children order them from small to large. If you have time, do the same for the mothers of each of the eggs. This would make a delightful wall mural for your oviparous animal unit study.
Kiwis are oviparous animals.
Kiwi Dot to Dot
Join the dots 1 to 20 to reveal a Kiwi, the New Zealand bird who lays such large eggs1 point
How big are Kiwi eggs in comparison to the mother Kiwi?
Kiwis are small birds from New Zealand but their eggs are four times the size of a chicken egg. This site will show you not only how big the Kiwi egg is in comparison to that of a chicken egg but also shows a Kiwi skeleton with an egg inside it. Quite impressive!0 points
Kiwi Coloring Page
Color the Kiwi, the bird that lays such huge eggs. kiwi : Birds : Printable Coloring Pages: Free Arts and Crafts Supplies for Kids and Children: Alfy.com0 points
Echidnas Lay Eggs
Echidnas are Oviparous
Close-Up of a Short-Beaked Echidna with its Young (Tachyglossus Aculeatus)
Available at Allposters
Cuddle with a stuffed Echidna. Make a baby echidna from felt or needle felt an echidna. Put the baby echidna in a plastic Easter Egg and pretend that the mother echidna has laid an egg and that the baby is hatching from the egg.
Children learn so much when given the opportunity to reenact what they have been learning.
Bairds Sandpiper Nest
Photo Credit: Bairds sandpiper nest with eggs
on Public Domain Images
Who laid these eggs?
Can you guess what animal will come out of these eggs?
Study the image above. Look at the kind of nest. Look at the colors of the eggs. Can you figure out what kind of animal laid this egg?
Which is your favorite oviparous animal?
Vote for the Egg Layers
Bird Egg Collection IV
Available at AllPosters.com
Which are you favorite egg layers? You can vote for as many choices as you would like. Which are your favorite oviparous animals?
Do you know of any other oviparous animals? Just add them to the list.
Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
Kemp's ridley sea turtles lay around 100 eggs per nest. http://www.nps.gov/pais/naturescience/kridley.htm4 points
Purple Gallinule
Unit Study about Purple Gallinules http://www.squidoo.com/gallinules2 points
Unscramble the Oviparous Animals
Vocabulary Word Game
Fill plastic Easter Eggs with the letters to form the names of egg laying animals. Children crack open the eggs, unscramble the letters and discover the animal inside.
Variations:
1. Have a list of animals with the letters written the size of Scrabble letters and have the children match the letters to the words on the list.
Put a picture beside each word for non-readers.
2. Have the children write the name of the animal, draw an egg shape around the word and then color the egg according to the animal it came from.
3. Children draw the animal found in the egg and write its name on a recording sheet.
Egg Games
Egg Bulletin Board
A bulletin board can be made with oviparous animals popping out of their egg shells. Ask the children to write about the oviparous animals that will hatch from the egg and post that information near the egg or turn it into an interactive bulletin board with descriptions of the oviparous animals on one side of index cards and the names of the animals on the other.
Each day, children try to figure out which description goes with which animal and replace it near the correct egg. You can make it self-checking by labeling the eggs and the backs of the cards.
Social Studies
Chicken Family Theater
Oviparous Animals on Stage!
Set up a theater and let the children make up stories of what the rooster, hen and chick are doing. They might retell the story of The Three Bears. What kind of porridge would chickens eat, corn meal mush? What would their chairs look like? Would they sleep on feather beds?
Try writing the story as a class book. How could you turn this foul activity into a Chicken Literacy Bag?
Eggs for Martin Luther King Day
We are all the same on the inside just like eggs!
Photo Credit: Brown and White Eggson Flickr, Creative Commons
Photo Credit: crack an egg by cheryl.dudley on Flickr, Creative Commons
Teach children that we are all the same on the inside with this fun egg activity. Pass out either a brown or white egg to each child. Have them look carefully at the outside, describe it and then compare it to a partner's egg of a different color. Write their findings on chart paper.
Then have the children crack open their eggs. Can they tell the difference? How does this relate to people with different colored skin?
Compare Brown and White Eggs
Can you see the differences on the outside? What happens when you crack them open and look at the inside of the eggs?1 point
Martin Luther King Day Unit Theme - Lessons Activities Printables and More!
Use brown and white eggs to compare and contrast. Then crack them open to see that inside they are all the same just like people of various different colors. Great activity to do on Martin Luther King Day.0 points
Arts and Crafts
Egg Related Coloring Pages
Color the eggs
Pastiche has made a lens with lots of egg related coloring pages. I like to use these to inspire writing about eggs, making book covers, or just the fun of coloring.
Egg Display
Display Table of your Eggs
-Flickr Creative Commons
An antique display table would make a wonderful place to display found objects on your nature walks. Notice how the birds and eggs are displayed here. To get a better view of the table go to the following link.
You can also make a display table like this by building up the sides of a table or coffee table and adding a hinged picture frame as a top. In a classroom setting you might want to consider using Plexiglas.
- Display Table showing Birds and Millinery
- A sweet vintage piece.
How to Blow Out an Egg
Empting an Egg Shell
When trying to blow out the yolk and white of an egg, push the pin in rather than trying to stab it while cradling the egg in one hand. The needle will push through the shell, membrane and then into the white. Be sure that you puncture the yellow or yolk.Now move the needle around to break up the yolk a bit. That will assure that the yolk can be blown through the small hole. Now make a hole in the other end of the egg. Finally, blow gently and steadily over a bowl. Set the egg to drain on a toilet paper tube that has been cut to about an inch high.
Let the egg drain and dry before decorating.
Photo Credit: Egg Blowing
on Flickr, Creative Commons.
- ACTIVITY: Blow Out An Egg
- Use a darning needle or corsage pin to poke a hole in one end of the egg. It is recommended that you start with the broader end, as it has the air cell in it. Starting with the "pointy end" can result in egg oozing out before you are ready.
Egg Decorating
Oviparous Art
Pysanky - Ukrainian Easter Eggs by shannonpatrick17
View other Pysanky Postersavailable on Zazzle
Eggs are a fun surface in which to use your creative talents and you need not wait for Easter to do so. Many people enjoy decorating eggs to hang on the Christmas tree, decorate for St. Patrick's day or hang in the window for Halloween, but of course the most common time of year for egg decoration is Easter.
Irish Eggs
Beautifully Decorated Eggs for St. Patrick's Day!
To make your own:
1. Blow out eggs.
2. Paint the eggs with green paint.
3. Decorate with puffy paint.
4. Add glitter or metallic gel pen designs.
5. Glue on gold braid and glitter or jewels.
6. Create a stand from toilet paper tube rings.
Decorating Easter Eggs
Eggs for Any Holiday!
There are many ways to decorate eggs and you need not wait for Easter to do so. Eggs can be decorated to celebrate any holiday from Valentine's Day to Christmas, Halloween to Saint Patrick's Day.If you would like your egg decoration featured, just email me a picture.
Photo Credit:Close Up of Hands Painting a Easter Egg, Sweden
Available at Allposters
- Easter Egg Decorating & Easter Invitations
- Decorating Easter eggs is easy with these unique easter egg dyeing and egg decor ideas. Send Easter invitations from PurpleTrail.com
- Ukrainian Egg Decorating Kit from HearthSong
- For centuries the Ukrainian people have perfected the art of "pysanky," a wax-resist and dye process on eggs.
- Egg Decorating Contest
- Egg Decorating Contest at Pleasant Grove Elementary Home
The egg decorating contest is an annual event sponsored by the student council. Students in all grade levels are encouraged to participate by designing and decorating an egg on the theme for the year. Entries are judged and winners are selected by grade level. - Spooky Halloween Egg Lights - Make your own
- Spooky Halloween decorations made from hollowed out eggs and LED candles. These pumpkin eggs are easy to make, inexpensive, an...
What could you do with Plastic Easter Eggs?
Using Plastic Easter Eggs to Promote Learning
Plastic Easter Eggs come in a variety of colors, pull apart and can easily be put back together again. What can we use them for after the Easter Bunny has gone back home?
One day I decided to write clues on the outside of the eggs and put a picture of an oviparous animal inside. My children needed to read the clue and then they could crack open the egg to see what was inside.
What other ways could you use Plastic Easter Eggs?
Halloween Eggs
Holiday Egg Recipes
How would you decorate eggs for Halloween? You can be a simple as adding large eyes with a sharpie to create ghost eggs to as complicated as deviled egg spiders. Here are a few ideas on creating eggs with a Halloween Theme.
Spooky Spider Eggs
+ More Scary-Good Treats! // Hostess with the Most more...2 points
Halloween eggs
Decorate your eggs with sharpies, acrylic paint an more...1 point
Decorating Christmas Eggs
At one time egg decorating may have been only for Easter but now you can find eggs decorated for nearly any holiday including Christmas.
Christmas hand-painted Russian eggs
Christmas eggs are used as ornaments for Christmas more...2 points
Egg Shaped Glittered Santa Treat Boxes
Santas in multiple sizes can be crafted using oval more...2 points
Christmas Eggs
I had a lot of energy one Christmas and made eggs more...1 point
Egg Art
Oviparous Art
Ready to Hatch! by dkpalmer
View all the artwork available on zazzle.com
Here are some beautiful examples of oviparous art where people have drawn animals that hatch from eggs. Set out a variety of art mediums and invite the children to draw their favorite oviparous animals.They might be turtles hatching from eggs buried in the sand, tadpoles popping out of a gelatinous mass of frog eggs or humming birds hatching in a nest in a lilac bush. Art is a delightful way to sharpen your skills in observation. When showing their drawings to the rest of the class, why not turn it into a game of 20 questions. Have the drawing hidden and let the others try to guess which animal is depicted.
Note: You might need to have the children exchange drawings. That way they guess the animal from the characteristics rather than the artist.
Color the Eggs on their Nests
Oviparous Coloring Pages
Photo Credit: Easter Egg with Chick
on W. P. Clip Art in the Public Domain
Many children love to color pictures. These pictures are of eggs and egg laying animals. Print them and let your child color them. Think of creative ways to use these coloring pages to enhance your child's learning. Cut out colored pictures of the animals and the eggs they lay. Write the names of both the animals on the pictures and ask you child to dictate a story about the animal and the eggs it laid. Create patterns with the pictures or even a quilt of oviparous animals and their eggs on a bulletin board. How else could you use oviparous coloring pages in fun creative ways to expand your child's learning?
Kiwi Bird With Egg Coloring Page
Kiwi Bird With Egg Printable Coloring Page, free to download and print3 points
Spring bird with eggs in nest coloring page - Spring Coloring Sheets: Bluebonkers
Printable Youth Coloring Sheets, online free coloring pages, spring coloring activity pages2 points
Dragonfly Laying Eggs
Color the dragonfly laying eggs2 points
Penguin Coloring Page: Penguin hatching egg
Penguin coloring page of a penguin hatching its egg is the perfect printable coloring page for kids who love penguins.1 point
Spring Coloring Pictures
Free printable Spring coloring pictures for children including flowers, trees and baby chicks.1 point
Animals coloring pages - coloring tags: coloring, dinosaur, online, picture, page
Animals coloring to print. A cartoon dinosaur coloring online. In this picture you see a dinosaur protecting her nest of eggs with baby dinosaurs. A very nice coloring dinosaur to do online. . Click on the button at the bottom of the page to print this Animals drawing.1 point
A Hen Nesting
Royalty-Free (RF) Clipart Illustration of a Coloring Page Outline Of A Hen Nesting1 point
Baby Crocodile Egg Coloring Page
Alligator and Crocodile Coloring Pages Baby Crocodile Egg Coloring Page - Animal Jr.1 point
PE and Health
Hatching Biscuits
Oviparous Snacktime
Mix up some biscuits, add plastic oviparous animals, form into egg shapes, bake.
Serve the egg shaped biscuits for snack. Watch as the delighted children crack open their eggs to discover which oviparous animal is inside.
Extend this activity by having each child write a sentence about the animal inside their egg. Collect these pages, put them together into a book and place in the reading area for all children to read.
This activity was adapted from Chickens Aren't the Only Ones! on Kinder Themes
Lapbooks
Make Way for Ducklings Lapbook
Ducks are Oviparious too!
Photo Credit: Make Way for Ducklings - lapbook
on Fiar Circle Used by Permission
Cracked eggs and paper fasteners could hide all sorts of oviparous animals. The following are lapbooks for highlighting some of the information you have learned while studying eggs and the oviparous animals that lay them. Discover many different ways to create your own egg themed lapbook. Then be sure to take photos of your lapbook, write a Squidoo page about it and come back here to let me know about it. The very best lapbook egg themed lenses will be featured here.
- Make Way for Ducklings
- Make Way for Ducklings - lapbook Includes the template for creating the egg that hatches into a duckling as seen above.
- Make Way for Ducklings Lapbook
- Resources for creating a Make Way for Ducklings Lapbook.Includes a section for how long it takes eggs to hatch. Also there is a template for creating a life-sized duck egg.
Make Way for Ducklings
Where did the ducks lay their eggs?
When we homeschooled in Boston, one of our favorite places to go was Boston Common. We often read Make Way for Ducklings on the subway. We learned that the mother and father duck made the nest on the Charles River but once the ducklings had hatched they decided to move the ducklings to the pond in Boston Common.
We would get off the subway near the Charles River and then follow the route of the ducks from the Charles River, down Charles Street, past the Corner Bookstore, cross the street where Officer Clancy helped the ducklings and over to the statues of the ducklings.
These ducklings and their mom are made of brass that is well worn from children playing leap frog over them.
Ducks are, of course, oviparous.
Photo Credit: Make Way for Ducklings on Boston Common
on Flickr, Creative Commons
Make Way for Ducklings Unit Study
Duck Unit Study
Oviparous Puzzle
Life Cycle Puzzles
=These life cycle puzzles are great for using in learning centers. The children can put them in the right order. I like to write words on the underside of the puzzle pieces so that the children can use them during Writing Workshop. I also make sentences about the life cycles so that the children can also put the sentences in order.
Oviparous Literacy Bag
Egg Themed Story Bags
Cotton Tote bags are great for turning into Literacy Bags. Just add a couple of books; fiction and non-fiction, a stuffed animal, an activity related to the skills you are learning in class and a journal for recording thoughts.
I use literacy bags instead of homework because it makes homework individual to each child's needs and learning style. Literacy bags are fun for both the parents and the child. Parents are often surprised when their child comes home able to read some of the books included in the literacy bags.
Baby Alligator Tote Bag
This baby alligator tote is perfect for using as an oviparous animal literacy bag. Add a little swamp alligator. Can you find one that hatches from an egg? Add a couple of books about animals that hatch from eggs. Include a journal for recording your alligator's adventures when visiting each child's house and you have the perfect oviparous literacy bag.
Price: 
An Egg is An Egg
What is an egg?
Sometimes it can be hard for us to adjust to change. This is true for young children as well as adults. As we learn about eggs and the amazing changes they go through to hatch into chicks, it can remind us that change may be different but that doesn't mean that it is worse. It often is better.
First Grade Teaching: An Egg is An Egg: Scott Foresman First Grade Lesson
Activities to accompany the book An Egg is An Egg. Kids fill in the blanks and turn them into a book. Wonderful addition to a lapbook about eggs.1 point
Salt and Pepper Eggs
Vintage Eggs for Oviparous Imaginations
Many children like to turn them into characters in stories. This activity can be used as a prewriting activity. They work out the main story line with these eggs and when it's time for Writing Workshop all they need to do is write down the story.
Oviparous Homework
Homework for a Unit Study on Egg Layers and their Eggs
- The Adventures of Goose and Peanut: Do You Know What Oviparous Means???
- The assignment was to choose an oviparous animal, draw a picture of it, hide it in a plastic egg, and write 3 clues to help your classmates guess the animal.
Using inventive spelling she was able to do the assignment all by herself. What an accomplishment!
Oviparous Lenses
Focus on Egg Laying Animals
Happy Easter, Eggs in Nest
Available at Allposters
Each of the following animals lay eggs. The make nests, lay eggs and their young hatch from those eggs. Many parents care for and feed their babies once they have hatched. That is not true for some. Learn more about the following oviparous animals:
Egg Themed Unit Studies
Oviporus Thematic Studies
Photo Credit: old man egg shaped cartoon
on WPClipart
Set out felt, scissors, hot glue, and paint. Children can make Egg Heads, cartoon characters whose heads are the shape of eggs and whose bodies are small.
- Pre-Kindergarten Egg Unit
- Pre-Kindergarten Egg Unit for learning about eggs and oviparous animals.
- Oviparous Animals
- Mrs. Flanagan gave us pictures of animals. In the chart on the left, we predicted which ones would be oviparous (came from eggs) and which ones were not oviparous.
- Rechenka's Eggs Unit Study
- Literature Based Unit Study written by Ami Brainerd and Helena Gosline. Based on the book Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco.
Includes activities about eggs all across the curriculum as well as components for Lapbooks. - Eggs and other April Resources from Teacher's Clubhouse
- An entire unit filled with integrated activities related to eggs. (Includes 13 resources below.) for sale.
Lensmasters with Oviparous Animal Lenses
Elizabeth Jean Allen has created dozens of lens about birds from Flickers to Owls she has a lens about almost any bird you could think up.Editor Dave has made several lenses about reptiles as well as Fish.
A Purple Star has just Hatched
A Purple Star Award for the Obiparous Animals
The artwork for this purple star hatching from an egg was created by my daughter, the CEO of SilverCat Studios. The Purple Star is awarded to exceptionally fine lenses. Thank you so much, PurpleSquids for the honor.
The following are lenses about other oviparous animals residing here on Squidoo. Please vote for your favorites.
NOTE: Squidooers are invited to add lenses related to the egg laying theme.
Frog Eggs
Each year we eagerly await the arrival of spring to listen to the Spring Peeper and anticipate the discovery of frog eggs in the vernal pools. Frogs lay their eggs in pools, ponds, and puddles. As snow melts, low lying areas fill with water and frogs start looking for a place to lay their eggs. On o...4 points
Oviparous Animal List
List of Egg Laying Animals
Photo Credit: Nest of great black-backed gull
on Geograph, Creative Commons
How many oviparous animals can you think of? Can you add an oviparous animal that is not yet on the list? Be sure to vote for your favorites and then invite your friends to join in.
Tell us about your favorite oviparous animal
Photo Credit: Compare Egg Sizes
on WikiCommons
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jimmyworldstar
Feb 4, 2012 @ 3:36 pm | delete
- I eat chicken eggs the most and see them the most so chickens. I've heard some ostrich eggs can get huge.
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leeleon
Jan 22, 2012 @ 10:42 am | delete
- Nice lens. Welcome to see my lens.
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pearltower
Jan 22, 2012 @ 8:44 am | delete
- Great lens you have. I especially like the egg art.
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GGGMarketing
Dec 22, 2011 @ 2:07 pm | delete
- What an awesome lens. I have a question for you... "Which came first the Chicken or the egg?" :) Thanks for adding such a great lens to the community. This must have taken a long time to make. I appreciate your hard word you put into this lens.
Cheers!
Gary @ Naples Website Design
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Dec 16, 2011 @ 10:57 am | delete
- Very interesting lens! I enjoyed the quizzes! Great job!
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stellargamebirds
Nov 28, 2011 @ 11:50 pm | delete
- Great info! Thank you for posting!
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whiteskyline
Nov 20, 2011 @ 7:24 pm | delete
- Salamander!
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homerepellent
Oct 8, 2011 @ 3:28 am | delete
- Goodness, green eggs! I learn something new everyday.
Cheers,
Homerepellent
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Sunflower_Susan Oct 2, 2011 @ 11:11 pm | delete
- I really miss homeschooling little ones!
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Pain_Man
Sep 30, 2011 @ 7:02 pm | delete
- Great job on this very interesting & educational lens!
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333ideas
Sep 26, 2011 @ 3:20 pm | delete
- Aww! Such a cute page! I love the selection of books. I'll have to share your page with all the young ones in my family. Visit me soon at www.squidoo.com/anything-to-save-a-buck
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cffutah
Sep 21, 2011 @ 12:48 pm | delete
- I first clicked on your lens cuz I liked the picture then when I got into it, I really liked how you educated your readers! If you like to browse too, mine has a great educational topic too with poll questions for my readers.
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AmyTK9
Sep 20, 2011 @ 12:16 pm | delete
- Great Lens! Very informative and fun! Thanks for sharing :)
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RenaissanceWoman2010
Sep 14, 2011 @ 11:41 am | delete
- One of my favorite's is the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle, of course. :-)
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RenaissanceWoman2010
Sep 14, 2011 @ 11:37 am | delete
- Totally impressive lens. And it takes a lot to impress me. Congrats to you for your ability to always exceed expectations and spur the rest of us on to do more and be more. **Blessed**
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wilddove6
Sep 12, 2011 @ 10:29 pm | delete
- Really excellent lens! Love it!
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inspirationz
Sep 8, 2011 @ 10:15 am | delete
- what a wonderfully detailed and informative lens!
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tomtaz517
Sep 8, 2011 @ 9:56 am | delete
- This is a ridiculously cool lens. Amazing, amazing job.
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NidhiRajat
Sep 2, 2011 @ 12:37 am | delete
- Its amazing to have you on squidoo...god bless
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- Load More
Look Who's Twittering about Oviparous Animals
Chicks Hatching
Buy This Allposters.com
What day were you hatched on?
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- blusgv
- Oviparous, viviparous, reptiles, lungs...adoro dar clases particulares y tener que obligar a alguien a que estudie!
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- agranddavid
- Bullshit. The egg clearly came first as chickens evolved from oviparous animals.
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- wu_tang_secret
- If it takes you more than 10 seconds to recognize the logical fallacy in comparing an endangered oviparous animal to humans, you fail.
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- RonaanRoy
- The fowls gave me a scowl, most foul, framed by an oviparous cowl, "We decline because we may, we decline because we may"
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- hannnnahmaae
- RT @JamesKempp: The chicken and the egg are always questioned which came first. Yet every other oviparous (animal that lays eggs) gets away without question
Celebrating Teachable Moments
Facebook Fan box widget may not always appear in the Workshop. Please preview or publish your lens to see the widget.
After Oviparous Animals What Next?
From Laying Eggs to Milking
Egg laying milk producers?
Are there any egg laying animals that also nurse their young?
Can you think of any animals that lay eggs and nurse their young? Would an animal that lays an egg have need to nurse their young? Is it possible for an animal to have all the right body parts to both lay eggs and produce milk?
Are there any egg laying animals that also nurse their young?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes
says:
I think so, but I don't remember which ones! Platypus I think! :)
Posted December 16, 2011
Sunflower_Susan says:
Yes, I think there are a couple. The platypus and another one... it's been awhile. g
Posted October 02, 2011
No
whiteskyline says:
No I can't think of any, but in nature it seems there is one of everything so I wouldn't be surprised.
Posted November 20, 2011
Follow EvelynSaenz on Twitter
Meet the Author of this Oviparous Lens
Beyond eggs...
Evelyn's Hands-On Learning Blog.
Finding a nest of turkey eggs in the field last year was the highlight of my summer.
Come find out what else I'm up to, writing about eggs and many more hands-on learning activities...
Egg Layers in the Kingdom
Which is your favorite oviparous animal?
Learn Squidoo Today Lens Directory
Come write about oviparous animals and the eggs they lay on Wizzley, a fun and easy place to express your opinion:
The Egg Laying, Oviparous Index
- Crack open an egg and discover a new world...
- Egg Dissection Quiz
- Oviparous Animals
- Oviparous Animal Quiz
- Language Arts
- Chickens Aren't the Only Ones
- Oviparous Poems
- How to Teach with Oviparous Poetry
- Frog Eggs and Morning Meeting Quiz
- What color are bluebird eggs?
- In marble walls as white as milk...
- Egg Poems
- Egg Poems
- Books about Eggs
- Crack the Eggs and Spell
- Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg
- Silk Moths lay Eggs
- An Extraordinary Egg
- It Started as an Egg
- Which Came First the Chicken or the Egg?
- Find the EGGS
- Create a Matching Egg Game
- Oviparous Writing Activities
- The Encyclopedia of Eggs
- Math
- Oviparous Math
- Oviparous Math Center Activities
- Green Eggs and Ham Graph
- Adding Up Eggs and Ham
- Egg Timers
- Count The Eggs
- Egg Shapes
- Gathering Eggs
- Weighing Eggs
- Science
- Oviparous Graphing
- Dissect an Egg
- Hatching Eggs
- Black Copper Marans Hatching Eggs
- Finding Eggs in the Wild
- Shark Eggs or Mermaid's Purse
- Did the shark's egg sink or float?
- Ladybugs are Oviparous!
- Watch Ladybugs Hatch from Eggs
- Butterfly Eggs
- Insects lay Eggs
- Searching for Frog Eggs
- Spotted Salamander Eggs
- Alligator Eggs
- Alligators are Oviparous
- Robins are Oviparous!
- Turkeys are Oviparous Animals Too!
- Turkey Eggs
- Is there a Platypus inside the egg?
- Emu Eggs
- Kiwi Eggs are Huge!
- Echidnas Lay Eggs
- An Echidna is Oviparous Too!
- Bairds Sandpiper Nest
- Who laid these eggs?
- Which is your favorite oviparous animal?
- Unscramble the Oviparous Animals
- Egg Games
- Social Studies
- Chicken Family Theater
- Eggs for Martin Luther King Day
- Arts and Crafts
- Egg Related Coloring Pages
- Egg Display
- How to Blow Out an Egg
- Egg Decorating
- Irish Eggs
- Decorating Easter Eggs
- What could you do with Plastic Easter Eggs?
- Halloween Eggs
- Decorating Christmas Eggs
- Egg Art
- Color the Eggs on their Nests
- PE and Health
- Hatching Biscuits
- Lapbooks
- Make Way for Ducklings Lapbook
- Make Way for Ducklings
- Make Way for Ducklings Unit Study
- Oviparous Puzzle
- Oviparous Literacy Bag
- An Egg is An Egg
- Salt and Pepper Eggs
- Oviparous Homework
- Oviparous Lenses
- Egg Themed Unit Studies
- Lensmasters with Oviparous Animal Lenses
- A Purple Star has just Hatched
- Oviparous Animal List
- Tell us about your favorite oviparous animal
- Look Who's Twittering about Oviparous Animals
- Celebrating Teachable Moments
- After Oviparous Animals What Next?
- Egg laying milk producers?
- Follow EvelynSaenz on Twitter
- Meet the Author of this Oviparous Lens
- Egg Layers in the Kingdom
by Evelyn_Saenz
My passion is teaching and finding ways to teach children in fun, hands-on, creative ways. The unit studies I make on Squidoo reflect my view that learning... more »
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