ACTIVITY: Introducing the Duckling Hatchery

Pre-School - Grade 2

20 minutes

* To introduce the 'duckling' centre. * Children will understand the need for an incubator to hatch ducklings, compared to the natural manner which 'mother nature' created. * To 'set up' duck hatchery with the class.

1. “The Little Duck” by Judy Dunn
2. Fertilized Eggs
3. Raw Egg
4. Bowl

1. Read “The Little Duck” by Judy Dunn to the children to start them thinking about ducklings.
2. Ask the children how ducklings are born. When they tell you that they are born in eggs, an egg may be shown to the class. The teacher can then ask the children if the egg will turn into a duckling simply by placing it on the counter and watching it. Suggestions can then be made by the class as to how an egg might hatch.
3. Bring in the incubator and discuss what it is and why it is necessary to have an incubator.

Read “The Little Duck” by Judy Dunn

1. How are ducks born? They hatch from eggs.
2. Can a duck hatch out of any egg? No. The egg must be laid by a duck.
3. What kind of eggs do you eat at home? Probably chicken eggs.
4. What can you hatch from a chicken egg? A chick (baby chicken).
5. Can you hatch chicks from the eggs you get in the grocery store? No. They have not been fertilized (they need a dad). They have also been stored for too long at a cold temperature (if they were fertilized, the germinal disc would have been killed).
6. Suppose we had a fertile duck egg. How might we help it develop into a duckling? Put it in an incubator. Give it to a broody duck.
7. In the story, what did the incubator provide? Heat and humidity.
8. What did the boy do? He turned the egg.
9. What did Henry look like when he first hatched? Wet. Scrawny.
10. Was Henry's mother really an incubator? No. It was a female duck that laid the egg.
11. How did Henry change as he grew up? Describe changes to size, feathers, voice.
12. Who was Henry's special friend? Another duck.
13. What happened in the end? Henry's special friend laid an egg.
14. What will happen next?