Bird feeding

[mumofone]

My 2.5 year olds are starting to get interested in the birds we see in the garden. Does anyone have any good bird related activities they've enjoyed with similar ages, i wondered about a nice child height bird table thing but cant seem to find anything like that.......

[FloraDora]

Exciting, my favourite activities. ...and the LO's too!

You don't really need a bird table- just a seed or nut container you can put on a high branch or hanging basket bracket.
I have a bird table but our feeding station attracts the most birds. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardman-Complete-Feeding-Station-Feeders/dp/B002M2RR5A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477944984&sr=8-1&keywords=bird+feeding+station

Just sprinkle seed on a table and it will attract birds too. Blackbirds and pigeons like seed on the floor too.
So not an expensive activity. Also apples are liked too.

Our bird feeding activities are always well liked. I put seed or nuts in the children's wheelbarrow and then they have fun, running their hands through them and scooping into the bird feeder - counting , estimating how many scoops needed, vocabulary around capacity, full empty half full etc.. How many fat balls, less nut scoops than seed scoops etc..

Starting a daily bird watch is good, set a timer....go to the window/ into the garden - record that there were 0 birds or if there were birds. I find patio window watching if they are young is better because they get so excited to see the bird they make a noise! Best to have pre printed / drawn birds that they stick on a picture if you see the bird on your bird watching
obs. Sometimes I stick pictures on the patio window and they use the window crayons to record which birds we see.

We have a window feeder but it's up high as that's' where our birds like to feed from. The one on the den window upstairs is very popular with the birds.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hanging-Perspex-Squirrel-viewing-feeding/dp/B01I9KLLFA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1477945097&sr=8-2&keywords=bird+feeding+window

Poundland has a good section on bird feeding.

Walking out and listening for birds is good - this book is a favourite here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1908489251/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Nice big pictures and the sounds are accurate. I have a little recording device and we often go on bird listening walks and record what we hear, play it back at home and press the buttons to see if we can match the sound.
Sing bird songs - cuckoo is a good one, but you can listen and copy, great level one phonics activities or for very young C&L just having fun making sounds, copying the adult.

Making bird cake is also good - activity:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/kids-and-schools/kids-and-families/kids-activities/activities/birdcake

We have a bird hide and sometimes pop it up with binoculars and bird books and cameras - nice role play - though DH and I actually like birdwatching so it a real one which we use in our leisure time.

I recommend actual bird activity- watching, listening and observing and making food for them over colouring sheets and craft...hands on activities.
But of course there is no harm in craft activities to follow up live activities and walks and observations....Pinterest is full of ideas.

My inspection was in January and inspector was impressed with the children's enthusiasm and knowledge shown when feeding the birds and where I took the activity with the individuals. It wasn't my planned activity, just something we did when we play in the garden...but it seemed to gain big points....I think because it is so open ended and can be adapted for any age...plus great reason to be outdoors in Winter.

Have fun!

[Maza]

We also sometimes put bird seed on a tray on a little coffee table that we have outdoors. Whenever we dig in the flower beds we just wait a couple of minutes and sure enough our resident robin will appear and start looking for worms in the freshly upturned soil.

On our kitchen window sill I have a little basket containing a 'ladybird' bird identification book, some cards with photographs of birds and some binoculars. My three year olds got to know where hot spots for particular birds were - we have different birds in our front garden to our back garden, different birds on the ground to on the trees, pigeons all over our plum trees when the blossom is there but not at any other time of year, crows start congregating in the trees when we visit a particular pond to feed the ducks and then as we walk away the crows come down to gobble up whatever the ducks haven't eaten. I have a bird spotters guide which lives in my rucksack (from a garden centre) and this comes in very handy when out and about.

A simple way to make a bird feeder is to get a stick from one of your walks, dip it in peanut butter and then in in a bag of bird seed, tie some string around it and hang it in a tree. You can buy special (salt free, I think) peanut butter from a pet shop but I have always used regular cheap peanut butter (feel free to tell me if this is bad for the birds). We hang them in different parts of the garden and see which ones get eaten first and then come up with our own reasons as to why this might be.

Some pet shops still stock birds and they always make a nice little field trip.

[SYLVIA]

We don't feed birds in the garden as we have a cat. but we look out of the window and see so many different ones on our nieghbour's feeders. We also be the big bird watch, making a feeder for each child to put in their own garden.

[loocyloo]

We don't feed birds in the garden as we have a cat. but we look out of the window and see so many different ones on our nieghbour's feeders. We also be the big bird watch, making a feeder for each child to put in their own garden.

I'd love to feed the birds ... but i too have cats who are great hunters :0 ( so they don't get invited to our garden.

We do go and see the birds in my friends garden and she will tell the LOs all about the birds. We also watch and listen when we are in the woods. Last year we made bird feeders which we hung in the woods.

[Mouse]

We don't feed birds in the garden as we have a cat. but we look out of the window and see so many different ones on our nieghbour's feeders. We also be the big bird watch, making a feeder for each child to put in their own garden.

We've got a cat but he's frightened of the birds so it's not a problem:laughing:

[Mouse]

This is a handy little booklet. Ours lives on the windowsill with a couple of pairs of binoculars.

The RSPB - Get your free guide to garden birds (http://www.rspb.org.uk/offers/biyg/facebook/index.html)

We've got various bird tables and feeders. You could get a feeding station or bird table and make bird cakes or pine cone feeders to hang off it.

Pinecone Bird Feeder (http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/pinecone-bird-feeder)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardman-A01131D-Feeding-Station/dp/B000MTWG74/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1477995467&sr=8-3&keywords=gardman+bird+feeding+station+base

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TRADITIONAL-WOODEN-TABLE-FEEDER-HOUSE/dp/B00HZN8NV8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477995546&sr=8-1&keywords=wooden+bird+table