We’ve seen some amazing birds lately – goldfinches, orioles, and doves to name a few. Each time, my son (who is constantly in motion and lips are always moving) has frozen in awe. So I knew when I happened upon Frank Mazzola, Jr.’s wonderful book “Counting is for the Birds” at the library, it was a must read.
This book has everything I love about children’s books rolled into one: Educational? Check. Rhymes? Check. Beautiful illustrations? Check. Naturally I headed straight for the “check out” counter with this treasure in hand. When I read it to my son, he loved it just as much as I did. I know this because when we were finished, he asked if we could keep it.
Banking on Mazzola’s book sparking my son’s interest, I had made a printable field guide for my son to color. The pages contain generic looking birds that my son could color to mimic the foul we see in our area. I pulled out a bird guide book from the library and asked him to tell me about some of the birds he remembered. He rattled off descriptions of a robin, cardinal, blue jay, etc.
I found pages in the book with photographs of these birds and handed my son a bunch of colored pencils. He colored the birds to match the pictures and wrote the names at the bottom. I was amazed at how much care he took with his coloring and how many birds he wanted to add to his book. (Download your own bird book pages here. Simply cut in half and staple along the left side.)
Next we transformed an empty soda bottle into a backyard bird feeder with instructions from GreenKidsCrafts.com. Visit their website for complete instructions. While I did the cutting on the bottle, my son screwed in the eye hook and added the wooden spoons (purchased at a dollar store) where the birds can perch. We filled it up and hung it under a tree in our backyard.
Now the only thing left to do is wait for the birds … oh, and add any new visitors to my son’s bird book of course!
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