Quick Notes on a May Toddler Tales and Trails

Today’s theme was birds and their nests and how to watch for signs of birds nesting.  At this time of the year slow down and watch around you.  Do you notice birds flying back and forth to one tree, a bird house or to nest you may have just noticed in the eave of a house?  Use your ears: Listen.  Are little birds tweeting?  Are the parent birds and perhaps supporting family members busily bringing food back to their babies? 

I was unable to get a hold of the story I had planned on reading today Have You Heard the Nesting Bird however we did read a few fun non-fiction stories  Birds by Kevin Henkes and Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton.  We also looked at pictures of birds nests in the book Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City by Barbara Nash. Then as we hiked we did a short nest making activity and game where we made paper bag nests.  We hid them in nearby bushes and pretended they were our nests and we needed to feed our babies- gathering pretend worms and insects.  Finally we went on a hike looking for bugs. We looked in the bark of several trees.  We shook the low branches of a fir tree onto a sheet.  

So many books.  So many trails. So many birds.  So many songs.  So many activities. I am looking forward to next month already!

Toddler Tales and Trails

Being a full time parent is a wonderful way to get to experience programs and find out what they are about.  They truly teach me as well as they teach my children.   Our local Audubon offers a great activity for youngsters and their caregivers, Toddler Tales and Trails.  Usually there is a staff naturalist who leads the program.  However, she has lost her voice and since I am a trained volunteer at the park yesterday I was able to lead.    I focused on spring and also nests.  Here is a brief description of our activities.  One hour was a short amount of time to delve into all the things I had prepared, but it was the perfect amount of time for the kids who were ready for free play at the end of our hike.

Opening activities and traditional songs

Read book called Wake Up It's Spring by Lisa Campbell Ernst which the young children seemed to love.  I think it is because of how expressively the illustrator drew the pictures.  It just seemed to resonate with the youngsters.

Sang Pete Seeger's" Litte Bird Fly Through My Window" Kids each chose a stuffed bird that made a sound.  They play the sound and then we sang to their bird. 

Looked at various nests to discover what they were made out of & then I handed each child a small egg carton with play dough to make a nest.  We  searched for things to line it with as we hiked along.

Then read In my Nest by Sara gillingham and Lorena Siminovich which is just a simple board book about what goes into a nest.

Then it was time to prepare for and head out on  our hike.   We stopped numerous times to listen for birds: To point what direction we were hearing them.  

We said "hello" to our friends in the forest such as the lightening tree and a baby cedar that was recently planted.  

We played games of follow the leader when we came to particularly long stretches of our hike- the leader got to choose an animal to move like & then we all moved like that animal.  

We stomped in mud.  Stopped in mud.  Spent time in mud.  

Sang a goodbye song.

Finally, this lovely hour was a full experience for me; however for my children it was just a warm up for a day of play.  The boys then had time to play in the park, read more stories at the "centers" library. Run through a spring rain.  Then home for time to work on their mud pits, which with so much water were extra inviting.