Our school was awesome enough to buy an egg incubator. I am so excited to be able to share the life cycle of eggs with our students and it is such a great, hands-on learning activity.

1. The Incubator

I did some research on the best incubator to get for our classroom. I wanted one that would hold enough eggs, would be durable so that we can use it year after year, and one that would allow us to best observe the eggs so that students can get a good view of what’s happening. I ultimately chose the Hovabator, and I was lucky enough to get all the accessories to go with it. The egg turner is a must if you don’t want to take the eggs back and forth to your house over the weekend. I installed it and now I don’t have to think of it. The thermometer/hygrometer is also really useful to have, I don’t have to hope the humidity level is okay, and I can keep the temperature stable easily.  The egg candler is awesome to have, but I heard that using a cellphone flashlight is just as good (just something I have read, I haven’t tried).

2. Introducing it to Students

The introduction to the incubator was pretty easy- the box arrived and the students were so excited about the box and what was in it, I didn’t have to do anything but tell them what it was. They loved watching me set it up- which was more involved than I thought it would be. I had to ask the custodian to do a little work with the wires to get the fan kit installed. But once it is up and running, it just runs on its own. We spoke with students about not touching it unless a teacher is there, I don’t want them changing the temperature by accident. They can look through the windows whenever they want.

I contacted a local farm about getting duck eggs and students guessed how many eggs that we would get. I told them that the incubator could only hold 24 eggs, so it had to be a number that was less than 24.

… and we got 12! We have already prepared our students for the (very real) possibility that not all the eggs will hatch.

3. The First Week

We used the egg candler to look at the inside of the egg- and we didn’t see much. We made sure to keep the temperature stable and we labeled each of the eggs with a number so we could keep track of the changes within each egg. I also put an X on one side and an O on the other so that I could make sure they were rotating properly.  We also have a blank calendar that we are using to keep track of any changes that are happening. Students also have a notebook to keep track of what they are seeing.

It is all very exciting and I will be giving updates on my Instagram, so if you are not already following, do it now!