As the snow melted away here in Ohio, we flew into a new study: BIRDS. Our friends were so excited to take flight and discover new things about these fascinating winged creatures. We began our study by making a list of what they know, and what they wanted to learn. This is a great way to let the kiddos be “the teacher” for a moment and talk about what they know to their friends, it then allows them to make decisions and be in charge of what we’re going to learn about next! During our discussion, they determined they wanted to learn how birds make their nests, what they eat, which birds live “here”, and why birds make different sounds. I also like to do this brainstorming meeting towards the end of the week, giving me the weekend to prepare for our study!
Each week we have been choosing one bird to dive a little deeper on, we do this by reading picture books, checking out their page in our take a long guide 'Birds, Nests & Eggs' observing them in nature, listening to their calls, and some short fact discussions during morning time! Journaling can start at any age, and is a great way to allow kiddos to draw/ sketch their ideas, and narrate what they know. We also encourage some independent writing/ copying for our friends who are showing interest in this area of learning. We use teacher-directed drawing, which focuses on encouraging and modeling big shapes and some details in pencil first, color second. Our friends have done a fabulous job journaling about The American Robin & The Northern Cardinal.
Birds, Nests & Eggs - By: Mel Boring
Bird Builds a Nest - By: Martin Jenkins
Big Book of Birds - By:Yuval Zommer
This super simple, yet oh so fun, and sensory thrilling activity is one for any kiddo to try and hang in their own backyard!
MATERIALS NEEDED
DIRECTIONS:
Spread shortening onto the tube, then roll in birdseed. String twine through the tube, and hang on a tree! Easy peasy!
The book ‘Bird Makes a Nest’ is the perfect first introduction to bird nests. I was super impressed by the beautiful illustrations and simple-to-understand, yet informative text! We read it during our morning time, and got our friends excited about making their very own nests! We took a hike in the woods to collect materials for our nest, and stopped along the way to sit and listen to the birds! I love stopping in nature to get quiet and just LISTEN! Pro tip: close your eyes too, it adds to the fun!) During our hike, we encouraged our friends to think about the materials they were finding, and determine whether or not they thought a bird would be strong enough to carry that item or not! They gathered items like twigs, pine branches, moss, leaves, & grass.
MATERIALS NEEDED
ere pleased with the shape of their nest they used the loose material to decorate their nests. A few friends even made some mini air dry eggs for their nest. The end result was amazing and each one very unique.
Our “Loose Parts Cart” got a makeover for this unit! We filled it with tons of building materials, our favorite birds, and wooden eggs to invite friends to build their own pretend nests! It was such a fun invitation station our friends gladly accepted the challenge! They were so bummed at pick-up when it was time to clean this area up, and we quickly reassured them that this cart set-up was here to stay for a little while!
MATERIALS NEEDED
The beauty of process art is that it is more about the process than the product. We love setting up simple art like this, and letting the kiddos just “go for it” no rhyme or reason, just dive in and truly enjoy the process of creating something! Our friends pretended they were birds whose wings were dipped into paint and they were painting the sky with their feathers! It was great fun!
