Preschool is for the Birds: part 1

This is one of those topics that at first I think will be so boring and the kids wont get into it - nor will I. (Why do I even pick them then?) But then I start planning and looking into things and I realize how amazingly cool the world of birds actually is. I highly highly (not a typo, I double highly) recommend doing bird crafts, songs, activities, watching, etc. with your children. All you have to do is look out the window. However, it helps if you know the names of the common birds around and you can recognize them. That was my homework. I've got a long list of birds in German that I've been working on. I'm actually getting pretty good too. So this morning when we woke up and looked out the window, what did we see? Eine Elster, viele Wachteln, ein Paar Wanderdrossel, und ich bin nicht total sicher, aber ich denke wir haben auch eine amerikanische Meise gesehen. (One Magpie, many quail, a few robins, and I'm not totally sure but I think we also saw a chickadee.) Knowing the names of the birds really gets the kids attention. They aren't just birds anymore once we know their names. Think about it, a duck isn't just a bird, nor is a turkey or a chicken. They are more than just birds to the kids because the kids know what to call them, and all the sudden, they are fun to watch and find. So a sparrow and a jay can also be fun and exciting - and they are always around.

Ok, so here are birds Joshua has been making out of Legos. He's actually been perfecting his design over the last month or so.

Here are birds we made out of egg cartons. I got the idea from Kindersuppe.com.  You can find the site in English too - it's Kidssoup.com. The original is supposed to be a penguin with cute earmuffs but I like our birds too.

We built a bird house. And painted it. I'm getting a little better about letting my kids paint. I'm not too fond of the paint mess.

I like this photo mostly because in the back you can see Abigail getting away with Joshua's bike. If he hadn't been so focused on his work, we would have had a major screaming and crying battle.

We went to the Bean Museum and spent some time checking out some of their birds.

I told Joshua to get next to the duck and stand still. So instead, this is a photo of Joshua telling the duck to stand still right before Joshua ran away!

And then this morning - after we watched the little quail run around our driveway, we watched a falcon eat one!

that little red blotch is a quail leg the falcon ate out of the falconer's hand - feathers and all.

There is a falconer in our neighborhood and I asked him to come talk to our cub scouts and show off his bird. It was fascinating. This is a peregrine falcon and she (as in peregrines in general) is the fastest animal in the world. She can fly 475 miles an hour!! I was disappointed only two of our scouts made it, but at least I got to see it and that was awesome.

Joshua was a little scared, I could tell, because he was clinging to my leg and therefore didn't make it into this picture.

Stay tuned. More birds to come.