There are so many changes happening in our world right now. And many of them may feel out of our control. While Wisconsin practices sheltering at home, our hope is that we can provide some joy and inspiration to get outside with your children. Nature is a space where we can feel safe, where we can soak up healthy fresh air and sunshine, where we can experience changes that are normal and seasonal and beautiful.
Many of us are schooling at home now. In nature there are so many ways to connect children's learning. Children are so good at asking questions, at noticing. Their excitement and passion can guide our learning. From bird song, to tracks to budding leaves, to the shape of clouds and spring frogs calls. Nature is a one-size fits all curriculum.
Maybe today your child is noticing birds. Or maybe they will tomorrow.
How can you use the following information?
We invite you to consider everything shared below as suggestion. We know that the most important thing families can do is to be together in positive ways. And we just want to add that component of encouraging everyone to get outside. If that means a simple walk together or a quiet sit in a favorite spot, that is more than enough! These ideas may spark different ideas in you or in your children. There may be important changes or modifications you might need to make for your particular child or children. And often, plans don't go according to the way we as adults imagined they might! We'd love to hear about what works and what doesn't. We'd also love to hear your questions or suggestions.
Learning about Birds
Ideas for the Very Young
Invite your child to color the set of barn swallow cards and cut them out. Then challenge your child to sequence the cards to create a story of barn swallows nesting, laying eggs, hatching and growing up.
Source: Garret, L., Thomas, H., & Elmer, H. (2005). Small wonders: Nature education for young children. Woodstock, Vermont: Vermont Institute of Natural Science.
With a sudden movement of your head, peck at your air sac. Then take a deep breath. This is the first time you are able to breathe air. Once your lungs are working, you can call to your mother from inside your egg. This call alerts your mother that you are ready to enter the world. Peep loudly like a baby bird!
Using your egg tooth (a small bump on your beak) and your powerful neck muscles, try and break through your strong shell. Make several tries, stopping for long rests between blows.
Having made a small break in your shell, you make the crack bigger. After each peck, stop and turn yourself a little bit by pushing with your feet against your jacket (shell). This eventually allows the wide end of your shell to be pushed away. Large pieces of shell fall away from the egg as you struggle to finish your labors. Your brothers and sisters may have already hatched!
You finally begin to emerge from your egg. From now on, things happen quickly. You hook your toes over the lip of the shell and then, having gotten a good grip, start to push with your feet and shoulders. With a few heaves, the eggs wide end is lifted away. With your feet clearly visible, you give another push, and the flat end of the egg comes away, sitting on your head like a hat. With a final push you tumble out of the shell that has protected you during the past three to four weeks of incubation. Fluff your feathers to dry them. They will provide an insulating jacket that will keep you warm. Now the race is on to eat and grow!
Many of us are schooling at home now. In nature there are so many ways to connect children's learning. Children are so good at asking questions, at noticing. Their excitement and passion can guide our learning. From bird song, to tracks to budding leaves, to the shape of clouds and spring frogs calls. Nature is a one-size fits all curriculum.
Maybe today your child is noticing birds. Or maybe they will tomorrow.
How can you use the following information?
We invite you to consider everything shared below as suggestion. We know that the most important thing families can do is to be together in positive ways. And we just want to add that component of encouraging everyone to get outside. If that means a simple walk together or a quiet sit in a favorite spot, that is more than enough! These ideas may spark different ideas in you or in your children. There may be important changes or modifications you might need to make for your particular child or children. And often, plans don't go according to the way we as adults imagined they might! We'd love to hear about what works and what doesn't. We'd also love to hear your questions or suggestions.
Learning about Birds
Ideas for the Very Young
- Step outdoors and encourage your child to listen for the songs of birds. Make "fox ears" (cupping hands behind ears) to focus listening. Try imitating a song you hear. Use your hands (or two toilet paper rolls taped together) like binoculars to observe what the birds are doing (flying, perching, bathing, eating...).
- If you have them, bring with you some colorful scarves or paper streamers and tie them to the wrists of your child. They are birds, they can pretend to fly! Different birds fly in different ways-some fast, some slow, some smooth, some jumpy. For example: Hawks soar barely flapping their wings.Geese flap slowly and with strength. Woodpeckers dip up and down as they fly. Ducks flap quickly. Practice flying like the birds you see!
- Here is a sequencing activity you could do together, inside or out! Print off the sequencing cards, found here: (stay tuned for the resource!)
Invite your child to color the set of barn swallow cards and cut them out. Then challenge your child to sequence the cards to create a story of barn swallows nesting, laying eggs, hatching and growing up.
Source: Garret, L., Thomas, H., & Elmer, H. (2005). Small wonders: Nature education for young children. Woodstock, Vermont: Vermont Institute of Natural Science.
- Imagine Hatching : A Guided Imagery
Materials: jackets or sweaters and crackers
To prepare distribute the crackers around the room or area, have your child begin by curling up in a ball with their sweater or jacket over their body. Here is a guided reading to read aloud with your child:
With a sudden movement of your head, peck at your air sac. Then take a deep breath. This is the first time you are able to breathe air. Once your lungs are working, you can call to your mother from inside your egg. This call alerts your mother that you are ready to enter the world. Peep loudly like a baby bird!
Using your egg tooth (a small bump on your beak) and your powerful neck muscles, try and break through your strong shell. Make several tries, stopping for long rests between blows.
Having made a small break in your shell, you make the crack bigger. After each peck, stop and turn yourself a little bit by pushing with your feet against your jacket (shell). This eventually allows the wide end of your shell to be pushed away. Large pieces of shell fall away from the egg as you struggle to finish your labors. Your brothers and sisters may have already hatched!
You finally begin to emerge from your egg. From now on, things happen quickly. You hook your toes over the lip of the shell and then, having gotten a good grip, start to push with your feet and shoulders. With a few heaves, the eggs wide end is lifted away. With your feet clearly visible, you give another push, and the flat end of the egg comes away, sitting on your head like a hat. With a final push you tumble out of the shell that has protected you during the past three to four weeks of incubation. Fluff your feathers to dry them. They will provide an insulating jacket that will keep you warm. Now the race is on to eat and grow!
Talk about: how birds grow up. Ground-nesting birds (pheasant, turkey, chicken, duck) hatch in a well-developed state (they have feathers, eyes open, can walk, fend for themselves some). While newly hatched young of tree and hole-nesting birds (robin, owl, woodpecker) are completely helpless. Parents of these babies must supply constant trips to the nest with food. The young may increase their weight by 10 times in 10 days and quickly catch up with birds that hatch with all their feathers.
Source: Garret, L., Thomas, H., & Elmer, H. (2005). Small wonders: Nature education for young children. Woodstock, Vermont: Vermont Institute of Natural Science.
Ideas for Elementary-Aged Children:
- It's not too late to set up a bird feeder if you don't have one already. Older children can make bird feeders from plastic jugs with the top half of one side cut out. Use field guides to identify the birds that come to the feeder. Keep track of preferred foods, beak design, and the way the birds eat their food. Start a feeder journal and sketch the birds you see.
- Do a Singing Bird Survey. Have your child draw a map of your immediate neighborhood, showing main features such as buildings, roads, trees, playgrounds, streams, shrubs etc. With the map walk around the area and listen for bird songs. When one is heard, stop and mark the map with a letter, at the edge of the map write each letter and describe the song. Continue on your survey using a new letter for each song. Try to spot the birds that are singing. Can you observe an individual bird singing from different spots? Are there any birds listening nearby? In early spring birds may still be in flocks not yet having split up to find territories and mates. Return with your song map on subsequent days and see if the same songs can be heard in the same places, try different times of day. credit: Hands-on Nature, Vermont Institute of Natural Science
- See if you can get a copy of the book Look Up! by Annette LeBlanc Cate. It's a wonderful and inspiring resource for young birders. My kids have it practically memorized! "This conversational, humorous introduction to bird-watching encourages kids to get outdoors with a sketchbook and really look around. Quirky full-color illustrations portray dozens of bids chatting about their distinctive characteristics, including color, shape, plumage, and beak and foot types, while tongue-in-cheek cartoons feature banter between birds, characters, and the reader (“Here I am, the noble spruce grouse. In a spruce grove. Eatin’ some spruce. Yep.”).
- Challenge older children to brainstorm as many questions as they can about a bird they see. Logging questions in a nature journal when outside can serve as a great launching point for research and inquiry when they are back inside and can consult books or the internet. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University is a wonderful online resource suitable for older learners or adults wanting to learn more in order to guide children's learning. Closer to home, our Wisconsin DNR has a great site to learn more about the feathered friends in our backyards and natural areas.
- When observing birds, ask children to consider all the ways birds are like humans (or other birds, animals, insects, etc.) and how they are different. Comparing and contrasting movement, communication, survival strategies, and adaptations can lead to interesting discussion and this exercise activates the important kind of thinking scientists use.
- Can humans make nests as well as birds can? Ask children to gather the kinds of materials birds might use and find a branch or spot to attempt to attach it. We encourage the use of natural materials so that the creation can biodegrade without harming the environment. More detailed resources for an nest engineering and design challenge can be found at PBS LearningMedia where there are also beautiful brief videos about the marvels of bird engineering.
- Movement! Try the Spring Sequence over at Kids Yoga Stories. Giselle Shardlow has done a fantastic job of creating resources for children and their caregivers. This is a great option for taking a movement break outside, if possible.
Parent Resources:
Great article on cultivating wonder: http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/2016/the-gift-of-wonder
Great article on cultivating wonder: http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/2016/the-gift-of-wonder
