Ornithology in Preschool

In Mariposa, we finished our bird unit with a focus on local birds, nests, and habitats. For sharing day, Rebecca brought in an egg she’d found in her yard that she assumed fell from a nest. The children looked through several books to solve the mystery of what kind of bird it came from. They decided it most likely came from a finch.

We looked at the digestive system of birds with a focus on owls. The children were thrilled to be able to observe and dissect an owl pellet. We matched the bones to a diagram that came with the dissection kit and discovered the bones came from a vole.

Bird Watching 

During Readathon week, the children had several opportunities to create books. One project focused on local birds that they cut out and glued into a book to bring on bird watching hikes. There was a lot of enthusiasm around bird watching and nest hunting on our yard. We found three nests and one with an active crow who we think is tending to her babies!

Dramatic Play with Birds

With all the excitement around nests and owls, the children were engaged in a nest building craft made from paper plates, paint, feathers, yarn, and things gathered from nature. We studied different kinds of nests and what kinds of things birds look for when building them.

I paired a book with the project called Owl Babies. Once the nests were complete, we read the book, made owl puppets, and performed the story for each other. The outside patio became a bird house play area where several children enjoyed playing the past few weeks.

Surprise!

We threw a surprise party for Daniela who celebrated her birthday last week! The children made party hats, decorations, lemonade, and blueberry scones. They even enjoyed a dollop of lemon curd with their scones. We had a dance party and gave Daniela candles and cards. We think she felt very special. There is no crowd more enthusiastic about birthday parties than preschoolers!