Honey Pot is 3 years old
Little M&M is 13 months old
Books
We went to another one of our new libraries, and we were BLOWN AWAY by it. They had a huge selection of books, little games on each end-cap for the wee ones, puppets, a live turtle and bunny. I could go on. So this is what it's like moving from the small country to the big city, huh? We will be going back to this library every week, that's for sure! Here are the bird books we got this week:
Honey Pot's favorites were Grumpy Bird, Penguin and The Baby BeeBee Bird. She requested these often throughout the week.
Puppet Play
Honey Pot has a couple of bird puppets, so we pulled them out and did a little bit of puppet play this week. We worked some facts into our play as we talked about how they fly, what they eat, etc. She just loves pretend play!
Birdseeds - Sensory and Bird Feeder Craft
We had some birdseed leftover from Honey Pot's sensory bin during our There's a Bird on your Head theme last summer. That was perhaps one of her favorite sensory materials! Take a peek! So I pulled out the bag of leftover seeds and let Little M&M play with it for a minute before we began our craft.
This was all his idea...
There's something about the need to put your feet in a sensory material! They both always do it!
When he lost interest, I poured the birdseed out for Honey Pot's craft. First she spread some natural peanut butter onto an empty toilet paper tube.
Then she rolled it into the birdseed.
When it was completely covered, she took it upon herself to play with the remaining seeds. I let her have at it for a bit while we waited for Little M&M to wake up from his nap.
Then we went outside to the yard to find a nice branch to slip it on.
Bird Feather Craft
I found this fun idea from Pinterest, originating from a website called Crafts for Kids. I unfortunately lost the pictures of this craft in progress, as my computer crashed YET AGAIN after I had uploaded them. But Honey Pot did all the gluing herself, and loved blowing the feathers around!
Do-A-Dot Bird Worksheet
In addition to the above process pictures, I lost the entirety of this activity. But I thought I would mention what we did. I created a worksheet in Photoshop Elements of various birds (including some tricky ones like a penguin, ostrich, etc.) as well as a few animals that are not birds. Then I asked Honey Pot to use her dot marker to put a dot on all of the birds. She really liked this activity, and found all of the birds without a problem. So disappointed to have lost these pictures and others...but I just bought a new computer so I won't be losing anymore Tot School pictures! Phew!
Mama Bird Catches The Worm
I found the inspiration for this game from PreKinders. Loved the concept of it. I also made it more fun for Honey Pot by creating a nest of baby birds for her to bring the worms back to. First I cut up some chenille stem "worms" in colors matching the birds, and provided Honey Pot with a clothespin. I called her Mama Bird and asked her to catch some worms for her babies. She loved this game!
She had difficulty with the clothespin though, so I brought out her plastic pair of tongs (set of three for $1 at the Dollar Tree) and let her continue that way. She flew through this game after that!
Happy baby birds with their matching worms!
Feeding the Ducks
We also took a trip to our local duck pond to feed the ducks. I recently read that bread is one of the worst things you could give them, as it actually harms their growth and pollutes the water. We brought them oats and grapes (cut in half). Other healthy options are birdseed, frozen peas or corn (defrosted), earthworms or lettuce. The kids had a lot of fun, and it's so close to home that we'll return here often!
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