Birds, birds, birds

Over the past few months, we (teachers) have been inspired by the way in which the unfolding of Spring seems to have sparked a strong interest and curiosity amongst the group for exploring the natural world. Many of the materials and projects we’ve offered over the past few months have served to support and build upon the children’s observations, questions, and ideas about the natural world, specifically around plants, animals, and insects. This week our previous interest in bird-life reappeared with the discovery of a bird nest in the apple tree outside. Inspired by this discovery, we have been revisiting some of our books about birds. While reading about all the different kinds of birds, many individuals were excited to try and identify the ones they knew, and we’re eager to learn the names of the ones they didn’t recognize. Wings and flight, we noticed, were the aspects about birds, which the group seemed particularly delighted by. We sang many songs about birds this week, songs involving creative movement and dramatic expression; individuals got to “transform” themselves into birds and imagine that they were really flying. We also started making bird feeders. We worked together to cover paper towel tubes with sunbutter, and rolled them around in bird seed. Next we went to the garden to look for sticks to attach as a “perch” for the bird to stand on while eating. We’re excited to finish these bird feeders next week, and are planning to hang some up in the toddler yard! When this photo was taken, Taylee was asking “how will I reach up high to hang this up?” Perhaps next week, we will ask this question to the group!