Hi could anyone give me ideas on the theme about birds? i am teaching 3 year olds. tks.?

Question

Hi could anyone give me ideas on the theme about birds? i am teaching 3 year olds. tks.?

Answer 1

www.childcareland.com has free printables that are about birds.  I like to turn them into games.  

Noodle Nests:  Mix brown paint and glue.  Add broken spaghetti noodles.  Mold in a plastic, disposable bowl.  Allow to dry several days.  Place pompoms in for eggs.

Feather Paintings:  Paint with feather dusters or just feathers.  Be sure the paint is thinned to a lighter consistency than normal.

•Set out feathers (from a craft store or a feather duster). Give your children large bird shapes cut out of construction paper and invite them to try one of the activities below.

•Decorate the bird shapes by gluing on the feathers.

• Dip the feathers into paint and brush designs on the bird shapes.

• Draw designs on the shapes with paint, using the stiff points of the feathers like pens.

Bird Nests:  Give your children small paper bowls or margarine tubs. Set out items such as dried grass, twigs, leaves, string, and small feathers. Show the children how to mix the items with clay or thick mud to make nests in their bowls or tubs. When they have finished, let them add such items as white pebbles or pompoms for eggs.

Binoculars:  Need: Toilet paper roll, stickers, markers, paint, string, and glue Directions: With two empty toilet paper rolls per child, glue the rolls together to form binoculars. Punch holes at one end on the outside of the rolls and tie a string from one to the other so binoculars may hang around neck. Decorate with stickers,  markers, or paints. Wear on walking field trips to watch the birds!

Bird Seed Collage: Use different types of birdseed to glue a collage onto paper.

Handprint Bird:  Provide a bowling pin shaped body for the bird and have them put their handprints for the wings.

•Create at “Yes/No” game for the children.  Cut out pictures of different birds and other animals from magazines.  Create a Yes/No chart.  Show the pictures to the children one at a time and have the children tell you if “Yes, it is a bird”, or “No, it’s not.”  Place the pictures under the correct word.  Continue until all the pictures are on the board.  

*  Provide bird magazines for free cutting and collage.

*  Make birdfeeders and hang them outside of a window where they can watch the birds (and other animals).

* birdseed is a great sensory table materials...funnels, scoops, bowls, etc.

* We did a bird graph where I hid different colored birds around the room and then we found, graphed, and did various activities with "reading the graph".  I had very young children so I had them glue the bird write onto the graph paper.

* Five Little Birds

Tune:  5 Little Ducks Went Out to Play

Five little birdies sitting in the tree (hold up five fingers)

One flew away with a “Tweet, tweet, tweet”.  (Remove one bird)

Mother bird said, “It’s time to rest.

Come right back to our nest.”

Four little birdies…. (then 3,2,1)

No little birdies sitting in the tree.  (hold up fist)

They all flew away with a “tweet, tweet, tweet.”

Mother bird said, “It’s time to eat.”

And they all flew back with a “Tweet, tweet, tweet!”  

* Color Birds by Jean Warren

Cut one bird shape each form yellow, blue, red, black, green, white, orange, purple, and brown felt. As you recite each verse of the poem, place the appropriate colored bird shape on the flannelboard. Ask the children to name things they can see around them that are the same color.

Yellow bird, yellow bird,

High in the tree,

How many yellow things

Can you see?

* Robin in the Rain (we did birds a few weeks back and they loved this song!)

Robin in the Rain,

Such a saucy fellow.

Robin in the Rain,

Mind your socks of yellow.

Running in the garden on your nimble feet,

Digging for your dinner with your long strong beak.

Robin in the rain,

You don't mind the weather

Showers always make you g*y.

Bet the worms are wishing you would stay at home

Robin on a rainy day - don't get your feet wet,

Robin on a rainy day!

Large motor:

Fair Feathered Friends:  This activity gives children an opportunity to develop eye-hand and eye-foot coordination and to increase skill in balancing. With the addition of music, the movement could become a dance.  Different birds move different ways. Discuss different birds, suggest typical movement, then choose and read one or more of the following instructions.

* A peacock struts. (Extend your arms behind you and graceful raise them up and down while you strut with head held high.

•A duck waddles.  (Squat down, hold your hands behind you to imitate the duck’s feathers, and flutter the feathers as you waddle).

•A flamingo poses.  (Lift your right leg and tuck it behind your left leg. Hold this pose as long as you can. Then, put your right leg down, lift up your left leg, and tuck it behind your right leg. Hold this pose as long as you can.)

• A penguin toddles.  (Puff out your chest, place your arms stiffly at your sides with your hands extended, and walk stiff-legged.)

*Owls in the Tree:  Cover an oatmeal container with brown construction paper and tape or glue it in place.  Use a craft knife to cut out a large round hole in the side of the container. Number a set of index cards with numerals 1-10.  Cut toilet paper rolls into ten rings.  Use a black marker to add eyes to each ring. Cut out beaks from yellow construction paper and attach them underneath the eyes.  To play, the children turn the number cards upside down.  The children choose a card, identify the number, and place the corresponding number of “owls” into the hole in the oatmeal container “tree”.  Continue until all cards are used.

* Sort feathers

* We put the feathers on the parachute.  Very messy...but very fun!  The kids had no problem picking up the feathers.  It was neat to watch the feathers float.

* I love the book Word Bird's Shapes.  You can do many an activity with it!

* We did chalk and blue material collage eggs (large) and created a large nest by adding raffia, brown crayon rubbings, etc to a large nest shape.  Then we read a book about robins and they each told me something about what they remember from the book or what they know about robins and I wrote it on a "twig" and glued it to the nest.  It turned out very nice!

* scissors- we cut out a large feather and then did snip cutting to make the fringes.

Good luck!  Hope something there can be used as a jumping board!

Answer 2

You're talking to the right person here! LOL I have developed science workshops for preschool classrooms and two of my workshops are about birds.

Are you wanting to do this right away, in summer? If so, I'd start by taking children outside. Take a camera with you. Take pictures of any birds you see. Have children observe any birds you see. Write down what they say about the birds and any questions they have. Ask them what they'd like to learn about the birds.

I'd focus on some areas like identification (name the birds in your area, talk about their size, colour, etc.), what they eat (do some experiments - put food out - see what they eat), what their bodies are like (claws, beaks, etc.), where they live (did you know most birds don't actually live in their nests? they just raise their young in the nest). For 3's, keep it pretty basic and focus on what they have experienced with birds.

When I developed themes in the classroom, I tried to look at each academic area and have activities for language, science, math, music, gross motor, etc.

A song I do that's fun is to the tune of "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush"

Birds

(Sung to tune of "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush")

The first verse remains the same, with the children walking around in a circle holding hands.

2nd verse:

This is the way we hunt for worms.

(children get near the floor, listen, and peck at worms)

3rd verse:

This is the way we catch a bug.

(children open mouths and shut quickly)

4th verse:

This is the way we sit on our eggs.

(children squat down)

5th verse:

This is the way we flap our wings.

(bend arms at elbows, and put thumbs under armpits, flap)

6th verse:

This is the way we fly away.

(children can "fly" anywhere they want, but return to circle at end of verse)

Careful - I usually ask children "What do birds do?" rather than telling them the words. Once a child said "lay eggs", so we had to pretend to lay eggs (that was interesting LOL). Another said "They p**p!" LOL I just couldn't see doing that so I said "They sure do, but let's try something else." LOL

There are tons and tons of ideas for bird activities on the internet - just Google - but I've included a few of my favorite websites below.