Ducklings Leave the Nest | NATURE Nuggets

Watch how hooded merganser ducklings calculate heights and carefully leave their home to join their mother in the water.
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NATURE Nuggets brings science and animals from NATURE on PBS to kids and their caregivers. Use the activities below to create active learning and engagement opportunities with your child.

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DISCUSS
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FRAME: “What is a duckling? Have you seen a duckling before? Where was it? Ducks are usually found near the water, but where are ducklings born?”

FOCUS: “In this video you’re going to see baby ducks – ducklings – leaving their nest in a tree to go to the water. Look for how the ducklings leave their nest.”

FOLLOW-UP: “How did the ducklings get out of the tree? How did they get to the water? What else did you see?”

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ACTIVITY IDEAS
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WATER PLAY: In the video, seven ducklings leave the nest and travel to their new home on the pond. Make you your own pond in a water table or plastic bin. Add rubber ducks, counting them as they swim into their new home. Develop fine motor skills with “duck races” in which children squirt the ducks with spray bottles to move them across the pond.

PAINT LIKE A DUCKLING: As you watch the video, look at the ducklings’ bodies. Discuss how they are covered in feathers and have webbed feet. Focus their attention on how careful the ducklings were before jumping, and made sure it was safe to jump. Have children paint a picture, using feathers as a brush. Try making webbed duck foot tracks by dipping spatulas into paint and “walking” the spatulas across paper!

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RELATED BOOKS
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Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Just Ducks by Nicola Davies

Woddle, Woddle, Quack, Quack, Quack by Barbara Skalak

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