Activity 16 – OUT OF AFRICA
The spectacle of birds appearing suddenly after months of absence has tickled human curiosity for hundreds of years. Many myths were created to try and explain where birds went for the winter. Swallows were thought to spend the cold months at the bottom of a lake, sheltering from rough weather until they re-surfaced in spring! Others believed birds travelled to the moon...
Today we know more about migration. But that doesn’t subtract anything from the wonder of birds, many of them tiny creatures, flying thousands of kilometres across the globe! Twice a year! Let the children share the miracle of migration through this activity.
Action...
This activity is best done in spring, to coincide with actual bird migration. Make copies of the diagrams and follow instructions to make swallow cut-outs for every child. Each child writes his or her name on their bird.
- Hang a map (or picture) of Europe on one classroom wall and a similar picture of Africa facing it on the opposite wall. Make sure the children know that these are lands apart, with the Mediterranea Sea in between!
- Thread all the swallows through three (or more) separate strings long enough to span the width of the classroom (between the two maps). Tie the strings to the walls in parallel to make them look like electricity cables between the two continents. Leave no slack. These lines will be the birds’ perches, but also their migration line! You may need a few nails. Check that there are no knots along the strings or the birds may get stuck on them.
- At first huddle the birds together on the African side. Now every day for about a week, groups of these swallows start "migrating" across the classroom. Swallows don’t leave Africa all on the same day, so stagger their departure. The children move their bird about, say, a quarter of the distance per day, stopping on the way (Why do they stop, kids? To rest and recover their strength of course...). In this way every bird takes about four days to reach "Europe." Of course, a normal migration would actually take a number of weeks - the game is just to give an idea.
- Take photos of the display, and send with your Feedback Form.
More if you like...
The length of the journey isn’t the only problem that birds face during migration. The way is fraught with all sorts of dangers. Play the game Swallow Journey to highlight the fact that migration is no picnic to the migrants themselves! Take photos of the children playing the game. Send them with your Feedback Form.
Points...
100 points for the activity
25 points for the game