Birds Sharing

Six-Year-Old Earns Bird Award

My six year old daughter really wanted to earn the bird badge. I printed out some pages on our computer that I made up. I made a space at the top for the name of the bird, three boxes down the left side for her to draw a picture of the bird, its nest type, and what it eats or its habitat. On the left side of the paper I had lines so she could write down the information about each topic. I found an old World Book encyclopedia on CD-Rom and she typed in the name of the bird she wanted to learn about. She was then able to click on the pictures to hear the song or sound that the bird makes. She was also able to find all the information for the 10 birds she chose to learn about. She used the bird house and feeder kits we purchased from the catalog and placed them outside (after being painted in all sorts of beautiful colors). When we visited a wildbird store later that week, they had a large bucket full of different. stuffed animal birds. She was able to identify them all! She said, "Look Mom, a barn owl." The gentleman working there corrected her saying it was a spotted owl, then read the tag and said, "Oh, you were right, it is a barn owl." She smiled a humble smile.   (Archer, FL)

Girls Do A Thorough Job of Studying Birds and Loved It Too!

Our Keepers at Home Club did a nature study on Birds this spring.  We used the Bird Project Pack from In the Hands of a Child to get most of our information and activities for our notebook on birds.  I used Encyclopedias and other books as resources too.  We made a notebook, which the girls decorated and made a cover page picture using bird stickers purchased from KOF.  Each girl picked 2 to 3 birds that they researched, wrote a report on, made a poster board or other visual aid for, and then presented it to the class.  I printed out basic information sheets and coloring pages of each bird and they filed it in their notebooks.  Each girl has a Birdwatcher’s book that she logs information into when she sees a new bird somewhere.

For a learning activity we put oatmeal and marbles in a Ziploc bag, sealed it tightly, and then let each girl grind up the oatmeal by moving the marbles around  It showed how the gizzard works.  We also made pinecone bird feeders using the large SC pinecones, peanut butter and bird seed.  For craft activities each girl built and painted a birdhouse and bird feeder using the kits purchased from KOF. 

The girls really enjoyed this study on birds.  They completely amazed me at how excited and anxious they were to do the reports.  They actually asked to do multiple reports.  They all learned quite a bit of information, including me, that they will never forget.  I also believe that they now have a new found love of some of God’s most amazing creatures.  Birds truly are so incredibly interesting and amazing to watch!  (Columbia, SC)

Bird Books, Bird Sounds, and a Bird Memory Game

We are working on the Bird badge as our main project right now. We have been working on it for a couple weeks. As a new Keepers of the Faith club, we are working on projects at home individually, and also working on them during Wednesday night prayer meeting. This one I am sharing with the whole club and it is a lot of fun. I went to the library and got several bird books and field guides. I made sure and got books for the preschoolers as well as for the older ones.

I chose 15 birds for the children to learn about. Then I went to the internet and printed out coloring pages for each of the 15 birds and all of the children are coloring them to have a collection for their folders. Then, I made up an information sheet about each of the 15 birds. On each page I imported 2 pictures of the bird, either male and female, male and egg, or the bird and the nest. Then I typed where their habitat is, information about the nest, and 2 interesting facts about the bird. I am in the process of laminating each one to add to our collection. I read these to the children and the bright colors and short wording attract their attention. Some of the children do not read yet, and they are already memorizing things about the birds.

I took the same 30 pictures from the above information sheets and printed them out on photo paper, glued them to card stock and made it into a memory game. I made about 10 blanks to make a total of 40 playing pieces. Any kind of memory game, our children love! I am reading a book to my son called Robby, A True Story. It is By Velma Craven Meyer (Review and Herald Pub, 1998; also AB Pub Inc.).  It is an awesome story for children. I enjoy it too! It is about how a woman hand raised an orphaned robin. We may share this one with the other children in the club.

The other thing that I did was take the same 15 birds and made a CD of their songs from free bird sites on the internet. I hold up the picture of the bird and play the sound. Now, when we go outside, we think about the bird song and try to remember who sings that song. We are all putting up bird feeders this week and one of our assignments is to take pictures or draw pictures of the birds that come. We are also collecting feathers and any pictures or stickers we find on birds. We are gathering these materials because when we are done with birds, we are going to work on our scrapbooking badge.  (Evansville, IN)

Bird Feeders and Lapbooks

Let me start off telling a little about our club. We have 11 girls ages 4-13 plus a mentally challenged 17 year old. We meet 2x a month. Last year we earned the bird pin. We had such a great time! It was a lot more work than I had thought it would be, but it was FUN! We started out making a bird feeder (from the catalog) and they turned out REALLY nice. We spent one meeting building the feeder and the next meeting painting & decoupaging it. Then we made lapbooks. The lapbooks is what took a lot of time but the girls ended up with very nice books. We made 13-15 mini books to cover the requirements listed in the handbook. We studied the verses as part of our Bible lesson. Then we put all the information into the lapbooks. We learned so much and had such a great time! This will be our 3rd year, I love reading what the other groups are doing and look forward to sharing more about our club. I can't say what a blessing this program has been for me and my girls. God bless each of you!   (Timpson, TX)

Bird Studies for the Homeschooler

I picked 10 birds that inhabit our backyard for study. I went out on the internet and found coloring pages for each of the 10 kinds of birds and also found the bird song from each of the birds. My girls colored a coloring page for each bird and for that day's writing assignment wrote about the type of nest the bird has. Then we listened to the bird song. My two-year-old daughter can identify 3 or 4 kinds of bird songs!! It was so exciting, even while we still had snow on the ground to see my daughters (7 and 5) outside scanning the trees for "our" birds.   (Beavercreek, OH)

Unusual Bird Activities Done by All

For the Birds lesson, I had each girl do one of the following activities to demonstrate unusual facts about birds. A few of the activities were completed by all the girls. After we were done, they filled in the blanks in the handbook.

Unusual Facts about Birds -
- Hollow bones: Pass around bird skull to feel how light it is
- Different types of feathers: Hand out down feathers and flight feathers, and see which one floats when dropped.
- Feathers zip together with barbs: Everyone pulls barbs apart on a flight feather and repairs them; then looks at them with a magnifying glass
- Gizzard is 2nd stomach that grinds food partially digested in 1st stomach: Baggie filled with sand and bird seed to grind. (This was handed around while we talked about the other facts... with each girl grinding some seed.)
- Hummingbirds flap 700 times per minute: Flap arms for 1 minute while counting each flap.
- Albatross wing span is 12 feet: Measure 12 feet
- Beaks are designed specifically for each bird and their food type: Straw with nectar in bottle (hummingbird). Small strainer with rice in water (pelican).
- Eagles add sticks to their nests year after year making nests over 10 ft. tall: Measure 10 feet tall
- Male Emperor and King Penguins brood their egg on their feet for 2 months: Hold plastic egg on top of feet and waddle across the room.
- Nests are stacked and woven and patched with mud: Pass around nests that we found and talk about making a nest with your feet and mouth only.

The girls loved these activities. :o)   (Phoenix, AZ)

A Family Tradition Is Born

This was one of our favorite badges to work on! Thank you Keepers of the Faith for including it in the books! We couldn't decide on one type of feeder to make, so we made several. As we watched, and refilled the feeders, the girls noticed that some of the feeders received more attention. They also noticed that different birds were attracted to different seeds and different foods. We made three different feeders...

The first was a pinecone rolled in Crisco and then in bird seeds (it is much nicer and easier if you tie the string around the bottom of the pinecone before you roll it is the Crisco).

The second one, which was my girls' favorite, we used firewood logs about 2 or 3 inches in diameter.  We used a drill to bore holes in the wood at various heights and sides to the log. The holes went in about and inch or inch and a half, and then we filled it with a homemade suet mixture or a mix of Crisco and seeds.

The third, which was my favorite, we took a grapevine wreath and stringed on it bits of cranberries, whole peanuts, popcorn, and also attached slices of apples, oranges, and kiwi.  (The library books said that kiwi was good, although we found that NOT ONE BIRD liked the kiwi!) This was such a great project, we will do it again, and probably have come up with a new family tradition!   (Tallmadge, OH)

If You Feed Them, They Will Come!

My daughters, Emily (8 1/2) and Jennie (6 1/2) and the rest of our family have been enjoying the study of birds with Keepers of the Faith. Because of my daughter's ages, my goal was to stick loosely with the Keepers requirements, but give them a thorough introduction to birds. We read "The First Book of Birds," which, sadly, is out of print. It was wonderful and taught them all about birds in a very engaging style. I learned a lot too!

The girls identify the types of feathers they find in the yard (downy, filoplume or contour) and have quite a collection. Did you know that feathers have "zippers"? Or that birds have 3 eyelids? Or that many of the bones in a bird's body are hollow and air-filled to aid in flight? How perfectly God has designed them!

We have a bird feeder in our yard visible from the front windows of the house. I've been collecting field guides and even cut one up to make flash cards so Emily and Jennie can learn the names of the visitors to our yard and surrounding area. So far we've counted 38 different kinds of birds and just in our yard! The girls can even name most of them. We recently put out 2 hummingbird feeders and have been marvelling at the tiny wonders for the past couple of weeks. They are beautiful, and sooooo tiny! My sons have gotten involved in this too and have collected 2 nests for their sisters. I almost forgot!! We had a pair of Carolina Wrens nest in our garage this summer! It was fascinating and such a gift from God! They hatched and raised 4 babies whom we still see at the feeder. This has been a great activity that has involved the entire family and has hooked us on birdwatching. If you feed them, they will come! Enjoy!

Here's a quick list of resources we use: bird feeder (seed), hummingbird feeder, bird bath, binoculars, field Guides (we like Peterson & the Stokes Beginners Guide that is color coded....very easy for younger children), flash cards (homemade), How to Draw Birds by John Green (ISBN 0486403823), Audubon's Birds of America Coloring Book by Paul E. Kennedy (ISBN 048623049X) by Dover, Birds of Prey Coloring Book by John Green (ISBN 0486259897) by Dover, Kids' U.S. Road Atlas by Rand McNally (ISBN 0528838164) has alphabetical listing of state birds with pictures, www.google.com to use their internet images search for pictures of birds, The First Book of Birds by Margaret Williamson (OOP), DK Eyewitness Bird (ISBN 039489619X).   (Duluth, GA)

Brothers Strengthen Relationship With Bird Study

Brian (13) and Troy (10) have been working on their Bird Badge together. They have enjoyed the time alone together and it has helped strengthen their relationship having something that is just between them. (Their Daddy and I don't know a lot about birds; they have been teaching us.)  Brian is busy building a bird house, while Troy is working on a bird feeder. They have done the study that is required and have even extended it. Troy likes to take the binoculars outside and bird watch while playing army up in a tree in our backyard. Brian just received a coloring book/field guide that he has started coloring. He has also colored many different birds on paper and cut them out. They are hanging from his ceiling in his bedroom by thread. It's fun to walk in there and bump your head on a bird flying around.   (Gaffney, SC)

Birdfeeders Present Opportunities for Learning

For a Christmas gift last year we gave our son his own birdfeeder and bird seed!  (We found inexpensive wooden birdfeeders at Lowe’s.) We hung the bird feeder where it can be easily seen from a window, and what fun we have had watching them!  When we ran out of birdseed and we bought a less expensive new bag of birdseed, which, of course, had different seeds in it.  Suddenly our cardinals disappeared!  A little research revealed that the new birdseed didn’t have sunflower seeds… a tasty treat for Mr. Cardinal.  We are not only learning to identify the different birds, but also learning about their preferred diets!  Next year we plan to make suet balls for our birds!  (Blue Ridge, TX)