Flagship
45 min
Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection
Four stages, 23 bones, two prey species to identify — and a lab report at the end that explains anything you got wrong.
Open the lab →
Free K–12 science labs
Take apart an owl pellet. Find out what it ate.
Kidwings is a free science lab for classrooms. Soak a virtual pellet, tease the fur apart, lift out the bones and work out which animals the owl swallowed whole — then keep going through twelve lessons on feathers, beaks, feet and skulls.
12lessons, free forever
23bones in one pellet
26skulls, every angle
K–12all levels
The flagship lab
A real dissection, without the mess
Lesson 9 walks the whole bench procedure. Soak the pellet until the fur softens, tease it apart with a probe, lift out every bone onto a chart, then work out from the skulls what the owl actually swallowed.
Nothing to install
Every lab runs in a browser tab — Chromebook, iPad or interactive whiteboard. No plugins, no logins, no cost.
Built on real specimens
The skulls, beaks and feet are photographs of actual study material, shot from up to seven angles.
It marks itself
Each lab explains a wrong answer instead of just buzzing, and finishes with a report a student can read back to you.
12 Nests of Knowledge
Twelve lessons, from the egg to the ecosystem
Run them in order as a unit, or pull out the one you need. Six carry an interactive; all of them are free.
Interactive20 min
Introduction to Birds
Bird life starts with the egg. Compare eleven of them to scale.
Interactive25 min
Bird Topography
A map of the outside of a bird — all 29 named parts.
Interactive30 min
Bird Feathers
Six feather types, ten jobs, and why a blue jay isn't really blue.
Interactive30 min
Bird Beaks
Sixteen beak shapes. Each one is a tool for a particular job.
Interactive25 min
Bird Feet
Toes forward, toes back, or webbed — feet give the ecology away.
Interactive35 min
Bird Skulls
26 specimens photographed from every angle. Four aren't birds.
Interactive30 min
Diet of Birds of Prey
Eight diets, from avivorous to nectivorous, and how to spot each.
Reading15 min
Dissecting Bird Pellets
Owls aren't the only birds that cough up pellets. Here's why they do.
InteractiveFlagship45 min
Virtual Pellet
Soak it, tease it apart, lift out 23 bones, name the prey.
Reading60 min
Genuine Barn Owl Pellets
Got a real pellet? Here's the bench procedure and the bone charts.
Reading25 min
Barn Owl Conservation
One owl family can take 1,000+ rodents a year. Farmers noticed.
Reading20 min
Meet Other Apex Predators
Owls are one of many. Wolves, bears and the ecosystems they hold up.
Kidwings Explores
Beyond the owl
Habitat, habits and prey for four animals that shape the landscapes they live in.
Barn Owls
Where barn owls nest, how they hunt in total darkness, and what happens to a mouse afterwards.
Raptors
Hawks, eagles, falcons and owls — what makes a bird a bird of prey, and how each one hunts.
Wolves
Why wolves hunt together, how a pack raises pups, and where the big bad reputation came from.
Bears
What a bear eats in a year, how hibernation actually works, and how to share a landscape with one.
For teachers
Nothing to install. Nothing to pay.
Every lab runs in a browser tab and marks itself. The original Kidwings worksheets are still here as PDFs, and real owl pellets are a click away when your class is ready for the genuine article.