Bird Watching Activities to do with Your Children

This time of year you are making sure your feathered friends have plenty of food and water. Your decorative birdfeeders are full of seeds. Nesting boxes and decorative birdhouses are clean and ready to protect birds from wind, rain and snow. Heated Bird baths are keeping the water from freezing. All is good in your backyard!!!!!

This winter is a great time to start sharing your love for birding with your children. Below are several activities and resources on the internet especially geared toward children. I find that birding offered hours of fun while also being educational. Kids home for winter break give plenty of opportunity for family birdwatching and study.

What you need to get started:

1) Binoculars

2) A good beginners Bird Watching Book

• Stokes Beginner's Guide West Book. Donald and Lillian Stokes offer novice birders a fine introductory guide -- a pocked-sized book that provides instant access to the most commonly sighted species in the western half of North America.
• Stokes Beginner's Guide East Book. Donald and Lillian Stokes offer novice birders a fine introductory guide -- a pocked-sized book that provides instant access to the most commonly sighted species in the eastern half of North America.
• Stokes Beginner's Guide to Bird Feeding. Want to attract birds to your home? Here's how to make your yard inviting. Info on bird seed, feeders, and outsmarting squirrels. Many color photos.
  

3) A journal or notebook to keep track of your activities, sightings and sounds. Journaling is a great experience that enables you

• To keep record of birds that your children see and hear.
• To keep a record of your experiences to look back at in the years to come
• To make time for a shared activity with your kids a priority

Several activities you can do with your children:

1) Get a new bird feeder this winter. Have your children choose a new decorative birdfeeder, squirrel proof birdfeeder, or maybe a window feeder. Window feeders are great because they will be able to watch the birds easily from inside. This can be their feeder which they can fill and take care of.

2) In the Spring get a new decorative birdhouse or nesting box for their new favorite bird. Giving them ownership of a feeder and birdhouse will surely cultivate responsibility and their appreciation of birds.

3) Have fun looking at the following sites. Decide which sites interest you and are good for the ages of your children

• Birds Zoom School-Enchanted Learning
• What makes a bird a bird
• eNaturalist-Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History
• Teaching kids about birds
• Bird watching with children
• Owl Pages- All about Owls
• Migrating birds have no Boundaries-On line journey of birds around the world

4) Spend time on the following sites to find the birds common to your area. Have your children become familiar with the sounds of some of these birds. They will begin to learn how to identify birds either by sight or sound.

• A brief guide to common birds, Birds by Habitat type
• Patuxent Bird Identification Info Center
• Patuxent--Bird Songs..this has bird sounds
• Bird Checklists of the United States
• Bird Checklists by State and Province
• Top North American Bird Fact Sheets, Bird watching in the United States
• The Birds of North America
• What Bird.com ..a search site
• Official State Birds

5) Choose some activities from the following sites:

• Bird watching activities for kids
• Bird Crafts for Kids
• Some more Bird Crafts for Kids
• Kids Bird Feeder
• National Geographic Pen Pal Program. You can indicate a topic such as birds and find pen pals with same interests
• Smithsonian National Zoological Park- Bird Activity Page
• Building a Birdhouse
• Build a Birdhouse Out of a gourd, milk carton

Birding is a great educational & fun activity for your whole family. It is a great way to combine learning and fun. Too often our children can name many animals that live in Africa but cannot tell you the name of the birds in their own backyard!!


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Other Related Articles:

The Best Places to Go Birdwatching
What You Need to Know When Choosing a Decorative Birdhouse
Choosing a Bird Feeder for Your Backyard