INSPIRE A LOVE FOR BIRDWATCHING
Bird activities for preschoolers.
— By Julie Hodos on March 14, 2024; Updated on April 19, 2025.
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Do your kids love birds? Mine do – we’re constantly pointing out the Towhee pecking away in the yard. We also enjoy spotting the Brown Thrasher hiding among the bushes. It took a few years to have my eldest boy, Marty, be as excited as I was about bird watching. But after the week of birdwatching activities he now keeps an eye out for birds and will enthusiastically say, Momma, there’s a cardinal by the compost! Thanks to the lessons, my second child, Mick, is also excited about seeing birds in our yard.
I encourage you to check out the entirely free Bb is for Bird, free homeschool preschool lessons because your child will have a new appreciation for birds.
Table of Contents
These bird activities for preschoolers and more can be found at Bb is for Bird. Along with complete activity instructions you’ll also have access to coloring pages, additional book suggestions, and printables. All of this is entirely free. Now, let’s jump right into creating a love for birdwatching in your kiddo.
Read books about birds.
There are countless books about birds. Also, during this week of bird activities for preschoolers we will read the books about birds almost everyday. Because the books are timeless and the illustrations are beautiful the boys and I do not tire from them. Here is a list of the ones we love in our home.
- Firstly, Birdsong by Audrey Wood which features the various calls different species of birds make.
- Secondly, you can study the life cycle of a bird with Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem Nest Eggs from A Child’s Garden of Verses.
- Early Birdy Gets the Worm by Bruce Lansky is a whimsically illustrated, wordless book about a little bird who tries to get it’s own breakfast.
- Lastly, Nesting by Henry Cole is a classic that is loved in the homeschooling community.
A week of bird activities for preschoolers.
Bird Activities for Preschoolers #1: Pinecone bird feeders.
Take a nature walk and learn about the diet of birds with this DIY bird feeder. You’ll need pinecones, natural peanut butter, bird seed, and twine. This is one of my favorite bird activities for preschoolers because it is simple and the kiddos love getting messy and feeding the birds. Word of warning, the squirrels also think they’re delicious and will run off with the entire pinecone. Although it is humorous to watch them attempting to take the pinecone off the limb.
If you decide to try it, I recommend staying outside when assembling everything. Alternatively, you can use a cookie sheet and drop cloth indoors. If you wish to read about this activity more in depth and complete it with your child, check out the post How to Make Pinecone Bird Feeders.
Bird Activities for Preschoolers #2: Craft bird watching binoculars.
These binoculars require a bit of hands on to assemble but then your child can color them with markers to decorate. On the other hand, you can skip this part if your child is too eager to use them, similar to my kiddos. So we tied the string on the binoculars and went to our window to see if there were birds by the pinecone bird feeders we had made the day prior. There was a female and male cardinal and the boys loved using their own binoculars to see them. If you’d like full instructions for making these fun binoculars read it here at How to Make Binoculars for Birdwatching.
Bird Activities for Preschoolers #3: Bird color matching printable.
Check out this cute printable to assess if your child knows their colors. Also, an easy way to teach them their colors if necessary. All you need is construction paper and these birds printed on cardstock. This free printable can be found here along with other ideas to teach your child colors.
Bird Activities for Preschoolers #4: Visit an aviary.
Aviaries are usually located in zoos and are a fun experience. Since most birds are gentle and simply try to stay away you can walk through their habitat. We’ve watched a road runner zooming back and forth only a few feet away from us, as well as a toucan just out of arms reach. Overall, there are over 10,000 bird species all over the world and seeing some exotic ones always reminds me just how vast and amazing our world truly is. Find a local aviary and visit it with your child the week you’re studying all about birds.
Child approved.
Overall, my boys enthusiastically embrace every single activity. They are still using their binoculars, and checking on the pinecones. Moreover they developed an appreciation for bird watching during this week and know so much more about birds. I’m really looking forward to next week Cc is for Caterpillar, there’s some fun activities planned like reenacting a butterfly’s life cycle!
If you haven’t downloaded Bb is for Bird, I encourage you to explore it and then see how it might enrich your home. Check it out here:
And do not forget to check out the entire Letter of the Week curriculum if these activities inspire you and you are looking for more great ideas. This is a free homeschool preschool curriculum that is play based learning at it’s finest.
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