I am so excited to tell you about our Spring nature studies! In my previous post, I told you all about our Spring weather studies and how well those went. Now I am happy to post about our bird nature study! We have been enjoying it so much that I haven’t had a chance to clean up our study space…Seriously, I am shoving play bird nests, feathers, and eggs aside to write this post.
Spring is now 4 days away from the day I started this post! Of course here in the Midwestern US, I am still anxiously waiting for warmer weather. That being said, we have started our Spring studies early and I am thrilled we have finally gotten started.
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All About Spring Birds
Much of what we use for our Spring nature studies are printables that I have purchased online. (I am not being paid to tell you about these worksheets and printables, I just love them so much.) I bought mine when they were having a sale.
Going into this study I knew it could take us longer than one week to do all the things I had planned. We hope to just take it slow and enjoy.
Reading about birds
What would a good nature study be without books? I scoured our shelves for the classics that we haven’t read in a while. Then I looked at our local library for some new favorites! Here are some we have enjoyed this week.
- “A Round of Robins” by Katie Hesterman
- “The Best Nest” by Dr. Seuss
- “Are You My Mother?” by Dr. Seuss
- Nancy Tafuri’s “Five Little Chicks
- “Nature Anatomy” by Julia Rothman
The story “A Round of Robins” follows the life cycle of a family of Robins in a rhyming style. I found it very informative and adorable. Unexpectedly, my kindergartner used his bird manipulative toys to act out the story. This proved to be a very educational and an entertaining way for him to learn about birds. Here are some things we learned from this story:
- Robins use twigs, string, grass, wool and hair to form their nests.
- Mud is used in the middle of the nest to hold it all together.
- Robins (and other birds, I am sure) have a built in incubator to keep the eggs warm.
The list can go on, but you get the idea. It was a lot of fun seeing my son play along with the story and interact in a way I did not expect.
When we read “Are You My Mother?” I enjoyed reenacting the story myself with our bird toys. This allowed me to get into the reading more, making the reading a lot of fun.
Julia Rothman’s Nature Books have been sitting on my shelf for a while, unused. However, we have started using them daily and we are really enjoying it.
nature study prints
As I stated before, I purchased some Spring Nature Studies prints online, to add to my growing collection. Of course you do not need to purchase anything to make these nature studies enjoyable! This was the first time I have used them in this capacity, and I have been enjoying it. Here are some things we’ve done.
- Chick Development flap page (Kindergartner)
- Anatomy of a chick in the egg, with labels
- Matching birds to their nests according to sizes big, medium, small (Kindergartner)
- Synonym and Antonym word matches (Third Grade, I am glad we did this, he needed some practice with this concept.)
- How to draw a Robin (Both did this but my third grader really did great with it!)
- Word and picture match, read the word, match it to the picture
- Bird Bingo has been a favorite as well!
Once again, the options are endless.
Sensory Bins
Sensory bins made their way into our Spring nature studies this week and last. It can be as simple as filling up a pan or tub with bird seed and adding some fun toys to play with. We used a nuts and berry seed mix and it smelled so good!
I found some fun colorful feathers in the arts and crafts section of my local Walmart to add to the bins. Amazon has some great bird toys, I used these and have been very happy with them.
If you take your bird seed sensory bin outside, no worries about messes, the birds will take care of it! Win, win!
Listening to bird songs on a bluetooth speaker while we studied was also a fun way to bring the outdoors into our classroom.
unplanned “field trip”
Today we enjoyed the unexpected pleasure of seeing baby birds! We happened to be at a friends house that breeds birds. My kindergartner was thrilled when the family pet bird named “Cuddles” lived up to his name. The bird sat on his shoulder and cuddled up to him. He hasn’t stopped talking about it.
The trip only got better when we were allowed to see baby birds that were being fed by hand. Imagine our shock when we got to see a baby bird that had only hatched yesterday! How tiny it was! We got to understand a bit about the anatomy of birds. Their stomachs are where I would assume the chest would be. The day old baby bird had been fed by its parents, and we could even see the food inside its translucent stomach. What a treat! The life cycle lesson only got better. Two parents were nesting with their eggs. This was an experience my boys will never forget.
Make your own bird nest
This week was just too cold for us to venture outdoors, so we made due by making our own bird nests! This simple project proved to be fun, and multipurpose as our nests became snack bowls too.
Here’s how to make your own bird nest using paper sacks.
Paper sack bird nest
You will need the following items: scissors, and a brown paper bag! That’s it. (I borrowed some from my mother in law so I didn’t waste any.)
- First, cut across the middle of your paper bag, cutting the top half off
- Next, fold/roll the sides down, crumpling as you go
- Then, form the middle and shape how you would like
It is really that simple. Easter is coming up, so I was able to find some fake moss in the Easter section of Walmart. We used this fake moss in our sensory bins, but also as bedding for our eggs in the nests.
Snacks we enjoyed while studying birds
As I stated, Easter is coming up, so what is better than Whopper Candy Robin’s Eggs! These were the perfect touch, along with Reeses candy eggs as well. I can neither confirm, nor deny that we had these for breakfast a few times…(and paid for it later too.)
Things I am Planning for Spring
There just wasn’t enough time to get in all the fun activities we wanted to do. And though Spring has sprung, the weather hasn’t quite caught up to the idea yet.
Here are some activities I would love to do as soon as the weather warms up:
- Gather twigs, strings, furs, and grasses to talk about what birds use to make their nests.
- Discuss nests more in depth if we can find a discarded bird nest.
- Sensory bins outdoors.
- Nature hikes while listening and discussing birds that we see along the way.
What’s Next?
When we are done with our bird study, we plan on exploring insects! Stay tuned to see what fun we can get into with bugs!
Make It Your Own
In conclusion, your Spring studies do not need to be complicated to be fun! The best memories made are the ones you’re making together. Always remember, keep things simple, fun and relaxing and you will learn much more than you ever anticipated!
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