Feathered Friends

What's so special about our feathered friends? That's exactly what we found out this week as we explored the world of birds. We talked about their feathers, wings and beaks...

Birdseed, plastic eggs, pinecones and little pretend birds and nests filled a sensory bin for us to sift, pour and play.

Another sensory bin was filled with feathers of all colors. There were styrofoam balls for poking.

A great small motor activity was threading cheerios onto pipe cleaners to hang in our trees at home for the birds.

Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman was the favorite book of the week. Silly baby bird wasn't quite sure who its mother was!

We played a game where one of us was chosen to be the mommy bird. The rest of us were babies. We all closed our eyes, pretending to sleep. Us baby birds flew away and hid. We tweeted in our hiding places until mommy bird found each of us. We took turns being the mommy bird.

We ate just like birds! We used different "beaks" -clothespins, toothpicks, straws, tweezers, to eat different foods birds might eat- raisins, grapes, seeds, popcorn, fish, nectar and worms (gummi worms, of course!)

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We had bird shapes of different colors and collage materials with which to create birds. We added beaks, feet, wings, and eyes to give our birds their own personalities.

Trying to build a bird nest was quite a challenge. We had a couple to look at closely so that we could see exactly what goes into building a nest. There was dried grass, leaves, twigs, mud to hold it all together and even some trash. 

First we collected some dirt to make mud. Then we walked around the yard looking for things suitable for a nest. We stirred it all together and molded a nest- probably not as good as a bird would do, but it gave us a good idea of what's involved. It's a lot of hard work. And, we have hands! Birds have to use their beaks. 

Painting with feathers at the easel created some interesting designs. We loved dipping the feathers and swirling them around on the paper.

This was our fingerplay about birds-

Two little blackbirds, (hands closed with thumbs straight up for birds)
Sitting on a hill,
One named Jack,(wiggle one thumb)
The other named Jill. (wiggle other thumb)
Fly away Jack (toss one hand at a time over shoulder)
Fly away Jill.
Come back Jack (bring back hands one at a time)
Come back Jill.

Water's Edge park provided us with a perfect place for a birdwatching adventure. We donned our binoculars and walked through the park and down by the lake. We heard birds before we actually saw them. There were seagulls and ducks by and in the water. We saw and heard a morning dove on the observation deck. A red-winged blackbird flew from tree to tree. All-in-all a pretty successful day...