All About Birds.

Last week, I rotated in materials about BIRDS! I was a week too late for the National Backyard Bird Count (did you know that’s a thing that happens in February?? Next year, I’m all over it!) We had a lot of fun talking about all things birds: kinds of birds, bird calls, parts of a bird, life cycle of a bird, how to birdwatch, different feathers, birds that fly, birds that swim, birds that migrate, bird habitats, bird food — there was so much to explore. Here’s what our week looked like:

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Puppets: I set up many activities for Lola (who is 4) but I wanted Eva (27 months) to have some fun with birds, too! So I put out our bird finger puppets for her to play with. She learned how to say “hoot” when she was holding the owl. 🙂

Sorting birds: Another activity I put out for Eva was this bird color sorting activity. I added a small scoop so she could practice transferring with a scoop, as well as color matching.

Birdwatching: I paired our binoculars with a bird watching template. Rather than chart what kinds of birds we saw (I thought that would be too hard), we charted where we saw birds — on the ground, in the air, or in a tree!

Pattern Blocks: Another activity out for Eva is the bird board that uses pattern blocks. Ours are from Melissa and Doug.

Watercolors: Both girls enjoyed using watercolors to paint cardinals and blue jays!

Sandpaper Letters: On Lola’s shelf, I put out some Sandpaper Letters with triangle crayons so she could do crayon rubbings of the sounds. I put out b, i, r, d, and s!

Life Cycle: Lola also learned about the life cycle of a bird/chicken. After I explained the work, she told me the egg (not the chicken) definitely came first.

Window Feeder: Both girls enjoyed filling our window feeder! It took 26 hours for a bird to notice it and come to the window for a meal. Lola was ready and waiting and was SO excited.

Bird Houses: They were also so happy to paint wooden bird houses. We haven’t found spots for them in the yard yet but we’ll do that next week!

Math Activities: Lola’s counting is getting better but if she doesn’t practice every day… she loses it. So, she’s been practicing with these two counting materials (with a bird twist.)

DIY Bird Feeders: Oh goodness! These were messy to make! We mixed unflavored gelatin with boiling water and then added in bird seed. They didn’t come out as planned but I think we’ll try again this week!

B For Bird: I put this “turn the letter b into a bird” worksheet out for Lola but it put her in such a bad mood! Cutting out all the pieces was too difficult for her. So she was thrilled when Javi (who is 6) took over!

Pin Punching: For kids who have a hard time with making scissors “do” what they want… pin punching is a great option. This is perfect for Lola. The bird puzzle is loved by both girls and Lola took it a step further by tracing each piece individually, pin punching them out and then gluing them back together to make the bird! I encouraged her tothe parts but she wasn’t into that. So we just talked about the parts — head, body, claws, wing and tail!

Parts Of A Bird: This activity was also done by Javi. It’s a great exercise in cutting, gluing, reading and labeling!

Little Book of Backyard Bird Songs: We borrowed a ton of books about birds from the library but by far their favorite book is this one which we actually own. As you read and go through the pages, you can click the buttons and hear how the different birds sound.

The girls are still very interested in birds so we’re going to continue this theme for a few more days! I’ll try to share any other activities they love!