bird day

I got inspired last week by this mom to have a full out Bird Day! So the night before I did a little prep and then the next morning my girls were surprised with all kinds of bird fun.

We started out by eating like birds. I talked with the girls about how birds eat lots of different things (insects, seeds, nuts, berries, worms, etc.) and how they have to find only the things that they like even though there might be lots of food to choose from in a prairie, forest or even at a bird feeder. Then I handed them their morning snack.

I mixed together craisins, raisins, cheerios, peanuts and Chow Mein noodles. I even had the little chinese take out boxes to put it in (but a baggie or bowl would work just fine too).
Then I gave them each their own set of binoculars and explained that they were going on an indoor bird scavenger hunt. I used all Illinois birds (many of which we see at our backyard feeders) but you could find pictures of any kind of bird you wanted. I gave them a check list sheet and then cut out bigger pictures of the same birds and taped those up around the house.

The big bird pictures were taped in low spots and high spots! The girls had a really great time with this and had be re-hide the birds several times that day.

I also hung up this piece of paper by the window that faces all of our feeders. I told them that for each bird they spotted outside they could put one more sticker on the paper. It was great to see how often they came back to check the feeders! I love finding ways to encourage them to bird watch.

We made owl masks too! Which of course lead to a lot of running (or flying) around pretending to be owls.

We read a lot of bird books that day as well! I don't do fully planned days like this very often but when I do the girls always get so into each activity. I love that. I think an animal day might be on our agenda very soon.

Happy Monday!