Bird-Themed Activities for Toddlers
Montessori in Real Life
One upside to this shelter-in-place life is a newfound appreciation and connection to nature. While I intended to make birds our theme for a week, it has been our theme for the whole month, because we are both enjoying it so much! Even after spending the month learning about the many types of birds in our region and beyond, and we’ve only touched the surface. Here are some of the activities that my toddler (almost 3 years old) has really enjoyed this month:
Making bird feeders
We tried a few versions, but our favorite and most child-friendly version was making it out of an orange. This is how we made them:
Halve a large orange and juice with a manual juicer (or a spoon) - bonus was D got to drink fresh-squeezed juice!
Measure out 6 pieces of twine, each the same length, to hang the orange feeder.
Poke three holes along the edge of the peel (we used a wooden skewer).
Insert twine into each hole and tie a knot. Then tie the three pieces of twine together.
Mix birdseed and peanut butter (enough PB to make it stick together).
Scoop the seed mixture into each orange half.
Hang outside and wait for the birds to enjoy! The birds have loved this for over a week now.
Birdwatching binoculars
As we’ve been seeing so many birds come to our yard via the birdfeeders, we needed some “binoculars” to get a clsoer look! :) I saw a version of these on Pinterest and knew we had to try. To make the binoculars, we used two empty toilet paper rolls, construction paper, tape, coloring supplies, a hole punch, and twine. I used thin strips of construction paper and double sided tape to line the edges of each roll, but washi tape would work great too if you have it! D colored a larger piece of construction paper and then helped me wrap and tape it around the two rolls to keep them together. I then hole punched the edge of each roll and tied on a piece of twine so she could wear them around her neck on walks. She has loved wearing these around for our walks around the neighborhood.
Bird Nests
To go with one of our favorite little board books, Nest, we made two kinds of nest. One from coconut fiber and one from homemade playdough. We took a long walk in the forest and found all kinds of treasures to add to our nests. D was really excited when she found something "the birdies will love". She spent a morning and afternoon filling her nests with all her treasures, making them "nice and comfy". She found a spot in one of our trees for the coconut fiber nest, and maybe pieces of it will be used by the birds. The playdough allowed for a fun, indoor version. She helped me make a batch of playdough and she set right to work again, filling it with her forest treasures. She also enjoyed setting up her colorful, counting birds and these artificial eggs in her nest. The playdough version is fun because she could unbuild it and re-build it as much as she wanted.
Bird identification
As I have never been a birder (until now), we both needed some help identifying all the birds we’ve been seeing! It took some trial and error to find resources for the actual birds we are seeing in our region of the world. Our favorite book has been the Woodland bird call book, which allows us to match the picture with the bird call, as well as learn a bit more about each bird. The most useful way to actually visually identify the birds has been a website and app called iNaturalist. Their website also provides a chart of common local birds in your area which we printed out for walks and bird-watches in our backyard. Lastly, I printed and laminated this beautiful print by Birds and Friends of Washington State birds.
Bird Matching
We can’t have a theme without some classic Montessori matching. As usual, our go-to language objects are the toob figurines by Safari Ltd. I found matching bird cards from Montessori Nature. Object to picture matching is an activity she’s enjoyed for over a year, with it being as easy or challenging as the objects we choose. I also love these beautiful bird and egg matching cards from Fiddlesticks Education. While D is too young to match the birds to eggs on her own, it was a fun activity to talk about together, as we compared and contrasted the different birds and eggs and colors.
Bird Parts puzzle matching
This bird puzzle is D’s very favorite puzzle right now. I first just put the puzzle out with the pieces in a small basket for her to complete. Once she mastered that, I printed off the bird body part cards from Montessori Factory. The cards and puzzle are a fun way to learn a bit more about birds, and what makes them unique!
Songs (I typically sing these myself or play audio rather than show her youtube video):
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