Bird Watching

While studying birds with my preschoolers,

we were lucky enough to have several types of birds

around us to observe and study.

 We went to a local park

to observe the ducks...

 (Sorry-

I know she is not a bird,

but she sure is cute!)

A few weeks later

we went backs and found...

...six little ducklings!

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In our neighbor's yard,

there was a nest full of Robins

we got to watch hatch and leave the nest...

There were four eggs,

but only three of the birds hatched.

It took about two weeks,

but the baby Robins did grow up and left the nest...

...one at a time,

until the nest was empty.

(You can see what we learned about Robins

by clicking HERE.)

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Perhaps one of the best

(and closest)

experiences we had with our bird watching

happened in our own garage!

We have a small pane of glass

that is broken,

which is how the Mama bird made her way

into our garage.

When the birds starting flying,

they were a bit confused,

and ended up all over our garage,

for about a day.

One of MY favorite observations

occurred on this day.

 One of the babies sat for a while amoung

among some of my book and craft boxes

which enabled the kiddos

to look at him up close.

That's when I snapped this pic!

Don't their faces

just ooze the excitement of discovery?  :0)

But they all finally made their way into the 

great outdoors,

and we were sad to see them go.

At first I thought these birds were some

type of Nuthatch,

but upon further investigation

I concluded they were...

...Carolina Wrens.

(You can read all about the Carolina Wrens

by clicking HERE.)

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Finally, 

my parents' neighbor

currently has a nest of bluebirds

we are keeping our eyes one...

 They are HARD to observe, however.

This picture of the eyes was taken by 

Baby Girl,

while she was on my shoulders,

holding a flashlight.

We are still gonna keep checking in on them,

but I HIGHLY expect us to see much of them,

(We can read about them by clicking HERE...)

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TO see what other homeschoolers

have been observing in the Science arena,

head on over to

Science Sunday...

Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! (Birdie Preschool Activities)

Over the past couple of weeks,

my 3 year old kiddos

have been working through 

some bird themed tot tray activities.

Here they are,

as long as some other activities

we did...

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"N is for Nest"

Alphabet Page

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Fine Motor Skills Practice

Pretending the clothes pin are bird beaks,
and the pipe cleaners are worms,
the kiddos transferred the worms
from one bowl to another.

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Bird Art Drawer

Both of these simple crafts were found...

...at JoAnn Fabrics Dollar Spot.

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Angry Birds Writing Practice

Using a Angry Birds coloring book from the
JoAnn's Dollar Spot,
I pulled out a few pages and put the kiddos names
on them.

I then placed them in some page protectors
for the kiddos to trace.

I also pulled out a few of the other

activity pages for them to write on.

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Coloring Fun

(Books found at JoAnn's Dollar Spot)

Stickers are always a great fine motor skills

practice for my kiddos.

To make getting them off the page more easily,

I took off the outer sticker part.

This helped out A LOT,

and I will use this trick in the future,

for sure!

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Pattern Making with Parrots

These parrots and bird house were given to me

by my mother 

in some craft grab bags she had gotten

at the Thrift Store.

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Angry Birds Puzzle

from

The Dollar Tree

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Lacing Chickens 

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Birdie Treat Bags

(See more about this activity

by clicking HERE.)

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Other activities we enjoyed included:

A Bird Snack...

(Read more HERE...)

Playing with the
Birdie Explorer Box...

Observing two different sets of birds

grow up from eggs!

(I will post more about that experience later...)

What a tweet-a-rific time we had

learning about birds!

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Check out more fun 

Preschool Ideas 

over at the

Preschool and Kindergarten Corner...