Birdwatching and Young Learners

Birdwatching from a young age helps

develop the 5 senses, categorizing, and
critical thinking skills. It helps aware-
ness and separation of ourselves and
the external world, simultaneously
building connection with the natural
world. Even toddlers can use their eyes
and years to hear and see birds during
a short neighborhood walk. Active pre-
schoolers can stop by a tree and “I
spy” birds. Can you hear the noise?
Where is that coming from? What do
you think it’s making that noise for?
The joy of noticing and finding a bird,
leads to lifelong background knowledge.
Birdwatching is an adult mindfulness
activity, something that may stay with
our children as they grow older and
“the busy” increases.
How to use this Birdwatching Guide
1. Using the “5 Common Birds” page, talk
about the 5 birds before going on a
walk. Discuss coloring and size. Talk
about playing a game, “find the birds”.
Whenever going on walks, bring up the
game and see if you spot any.
2. Once the birds have been spotted a
few times, introduce the questions from
the data journal page. Ask the ques-
tions whenever a bird is spotted. An
adult can write the answers if the child
is at a pre-reading level. Based on chil-
dren’s development, you may need to
use the written form of this page, af-
ter all the completion of the other pag-
es.
3. A Bird coloring page should be colored
within 2 days of viewing that particular
bird.
5 Common Birds
Strongest Feature:
Robin Red Belly, black head,
pull worms from lawns.

Strongest Feature:
small triangle beaks.
Finch Finches can be brown,
red, or purplish.

Strongest Feature:
Hum-
ming Long Beak, Wings move
bird
super fast, tiny and
hard to spot in a tree.
Strongest Feature: The
Blue Blue Jay can be very
loud. It has a lot of
Jay
blue and a lot of
stripes.
Strongest feature:
Sparrows are many
Sparrow kinds of brown. They are
in flocks and sing a lot.
Color the Robin
Color the Finch
Color the Hummingbird
Color the Blue Jay
Color the Sparrow
 My Favorite Bird
Circle the bird that was your favorite to watch.

Why did you choose that bird?

Color Sound Actions