Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds

In honor of the Audubon’s Citizen Science Project Hummingbirds at Home I focused today's Toddler Trails and Tales on Hummingbirds.  We started the class making play dough nests about the size of a real hummingbird nest which they decorated with string, wool and two puffy balls for the eggs. We talked about how in reality hummingbirds use lichen, moss and spiderwebs to  make their nests.  Then I read some poetry from the book Hummingbird Nest: A journal of proems by Kristine O’COnnell George and Barry Moser.  Later I read the story About Hummingbirds: A Guide for Children.   

Our walk was looking for hummingbirds and with the help of the Audubon Director, Joey, we saw some!  Of course, for the littlest one a hummingbird can be hard to follow so after milling around the hummingbird garden we went to some leaves and played and sang in them.  Then we played some other games and hunted for more plants and birds, played squirrel tag and everyone went off on their way!

Fun addition to todays lesson: bubbles to show iridescent colors.  Bubble and the feathers of our hummingbirds both have a wonderful display of color when the light hits then just right. 

I had checked out some other great books on hummingbirds so perhaps we will revisit them in the spring during nesting time.  I particularly enjoyed reading the folk tales about hummingbirds in the book Hummingbirds Facts and Folklore from the Americas written by Jeanette Larson and Adrienne Yorinks as well as some of the facts and information in Hummingbirds by Melissa Gish.