Picnic & Play: The Tale of the Squawky Young Birds

This morning we went back to our established progression of movement verses in Circle Time. Zac liked the animal yoga poses but he really liked returning to the familiarity of what we had been doing before.

#1 - "A Ram Sam Sam" song
from the Seven Times the Sun CD, track 17

#2 - "Good Morning, Dear Earth" verse

#3 - "Good Morning Feet!" verse
from The Breathing Circle, page 65

#4 - "We Stretch Like Cats, We Stretch Like Tigers" verse
from The Breathing Circle, page 57

#5 - Hippo Song" verse
from The Breathing Circle, page 71

#6 - "The Door's Shut Tight!" verse
from The Breathing Circle, page 73

#7 - "The Elephant" verse
from A Child's Seasonal Treasury, page 17

#8 - "Looking Through the Garden Gate" verse
from The Breathing Circle, page 94

#9 - "Two Little Blackbirds" finger play
from A Child's Seasonal Treasury, page 20

#10 - "Rocks to Stones" finger play
from The Breathing Circle, page 84

#11 - "Caleb the Cricket" finger play
from Move Over, Mother Goose: Finger Plays, Action Verses and Funny Rhymes, page 20

We didn't do a wrapping game because I had our puppetry carefully set up under a silk and I didn't want anyone to bump into it! Our story this morning was also from The Breathing Circle. We did "The Tale of the Squawky Young Birds" on page 120. To do this as a puppetry you need a basket to be the nest, one large feather and two small ones to be the mama and baby birds, a long piece of green roving to be the python, a ball of golden wool to be the lion, and a button to be the owl. Zac was absolutely entranced by this pedagogical story. It has quite a build up but comes to a comforting ending.

Afterwards we opened up the Birds of Illinois bin from IDNR which we checked out yesterday from the public library. This bin is free to borrow (and they can be found in every county of Illinois) and packed with stuff. Zac is little so we did Box 1 with him. Box 1 contains six Audubon stuffed animals, plush birds which each play their song when you squeeze them. Box 1 contains American robin, cardinal, mallard, mourning dove, red-tailed hawk, and wild turkey. After playing with them we went on a nature walk around our neighborhood to listen for bird songs.

The Breathing Circle:
Learning through the Movement of the Natural Breath
by Nell Smyth

It's funny because once you tune into something you seem to see it everywhere! Birds, birds, birds. Completely by coincidence, Becca just finished sewing up her knitted owl pattern yesterday and Zac just finished up his bedtime read aloud The Starry Bird by Reg Down last night. (Even I was on pins and needles wondering what was going to hatch out of that egg!)

I will freely admit that I got that bin from the library to serve two purposes. Zac is doing Bird activities this week in Picnic & Play but, as a nice spin-off from Local History & Geography, my Science Club kids are going to start with Birds of Illinois! The great thing about Birds is that it works for all ages, with older children going into it at a deeper level. I found a ton of great materials in the bin and I already had quite a few ideas of things we could do.

Here's a brainstorm list of resources I have on hand... things I want to buy... possible activities. I welcome suggestions!

The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess

Bird Egg Feather Nest by MaryJo Koch

hang bird feeders in the yard

mix up hummingbird nectar - ratios

Illinois Birds activity PDF from IDNR

Illinois Birds bin from IDNR - some of my favorite items

replica skulls for duck and turkey

replica tracks for great horned owl, wild turkey, quail, great blue heron, coot, wood duck

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon

Everything You Never Learned about Birds by Rebecca Rupp

Finding Your Wings: A Workbook for Beginning Bird Watchers

there's also a great chapter book biography of Audubon which won the Newbery Honor in 1937

take easels and draw and paint outside, nature sketching

"Classifiying Shoes" activity from Classification Clues, review Linnaean classification

Darwin and his finches

The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin by Peter Sis

nomenclature cards biomes of the world - compare birds across biomes across the world

BEAKS

Beaks! by Sneed B. Collard III

beak lab - TpT options, combine ideas, make sure everything is nut free

Bird Beak Experiment - $2.00
By Reta Stebbins
this ended up being my favorite so I used this one

Beak Lab - Adaptations, ecosystems, habitat - $3.00
By SmithScience

Adaptation - Battle of the Beaks - $1.25
By Turners Teachable Resources

Bird Beak Science Lab - Comparing Different Types of Bird Beaks - $1.50
By Smart Chick

barn owl pellet dissection from Nature Watch

The Barn Owls by Tony Johnston

Owl Pellet Bone Sorting Chart (PDF)

FEATHERS

Feathers: Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart

crush blue jay feather in mortar & pestle

buy peacock feathers from Nature Watch

EGGS

An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston

ostrich egg and emu egg from Nature Watch, $29.00 each

eggs - chicken, duck, peacock

membrane diffusion activity with vinegar, corn syrup

eggs and chickens at farm

NESTS

Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City

collection of bird nests

A Nest is Noisy by Dianna Hutts Aston

bird nest box

weaving activities with branches

SONGS

birdwatching logs

Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs: Eastern Region Audio CD

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