Young Learners: For the Birds

Book: The After Christmas Tree By Linda Wagoner Tyler
Book: Usborne Discovery Birds by Dorothy Gillian
Book: Cardinals, Robins and Other Birds by Golden Books
Book: I Love My Nest by P.D. Eastman
Book: A Year of Birds by Ashley Wolff

Share: Bring something that is white
Dramatic Play: Bird Puppets
I have a large assortment of bird puppets. We talked about the different characteristics of each bird and what makes them unique, then the children used imaginative play to create stories about their birds. Max had a toucan that shared grapes with everyone.
Dramatic Play: Bird Watcher prop box (bird cage, identification chart, binoculars, bird calls, safari hat)

Art: What makes it a bird?

Sensory: bean transfer

Cooking: Bird Suets: In The After Christmas Tree, a family recycles their dried out and undecorated Christmas tree by turning it into a habitat and feeder for the local winter birds and woodland critters. The family invites their friends over for an "After Christmas Party" and they sip hot cocoa while they watch the birds have a party of their own, outside in the tree. The children made their own bird seed cakes to take home and place outside a favorite window. Hopefully, the birds will come and the children will be able to enjoy an "after Christmas party" of their own.

Mix: 1c shortening, 1c crunchy peanut butter, 1c cornmeal, 2c oats, 1c bird seed, and 1c sugar
Pack into cookie sheet or molds and freeze until ready to use

Dramatic Play: Bird Identification
Provide the children with an assortment of bird hand puppets. What kind of birds are they? (owl, peacock, bluebird, hummingbird, eagle, flamingo, etc)

Language: What do birds eat? Where do they live?

Practical Life: Taking turns.

Assist the children in proper turn taking with bird themed games. Duck Duck 1-2-3 and the Busy Bee class played Lucky Ducks.

Music and Movement: Bird Songs
Birds in Springtime:
"Way Up in the sky, the little birds fly.
Way down in the nest, the little birds rest.
With a wing on their left, and a wing on their right,
The little birds sleep all through the night.
Shhhhh…..they’re sleeeeeeeping!
The bright sun comes up, the dew falls away.
“Good Morning! Good Morning!” the little birds say"

Hap Palmer Birds and Baby ChickieI love this picture of my little chickies. They are so cute when they burst out of their "eggs" and say, "Welcome to the world, baby chickie".
Science: Are chickens birds? We took our charts out to the chicken coop and took a look at the chickens. Does a chicken have a beak? Does it have wings? Did it come from an egg? Does it have feathers? The children were able to determine that yes, chickens are birds.

I love my job!