Bird Beak - Structural Adaptation

Our grade 3/4 class did an awesome experiment to illustrate structural adaption in animals. After looking at birds's pictures and discussion various adaptations, the students became birds themselves and were assigned a specific beak to eat various food.

• Beaks: spoon / chopsticks / clothes pin
• Stomach: plastic cups
• Food: pasta / chickpeas / toothpicks

The children were supposed to use their beak to catch food (one kind at a time) and to place it in their stomach. They had 45 seconds to eat. When the time was up, they counted their catch and recorded it on a work sheet. The process was repeated until all food was tried.

The kids loved the activity and it was great fun to watch students engaged in a science experiment. At the end, I collected all the data and created a graph to show the student the results of the experiment. We then discussed it and came to the conclusion that the "spoon" bird in a "chickpea" habitat was the winner. 

Inclusive classroom: make sure to adapt beak choice to the fine motor skills ability of the students.