Although infants have yet to acquire language, they benefit from exposure to the sights, sounds and smells of nature. For infants under 18 months, developmentally appropriate activities involving birds include reading picture books (particularly touch-and-feel picture books) about birds; as well as playing with bird toys or stuffed animals, and listening to bird sounds and songs. You can practice identifying birds by pointing to them outdoors and in books.
You can develop a toddler's understanding of birds with more advanced activities and games. Reinforce bird sounds by playing recordings of bird sounds and singing songs and nursery rhymes about birds, but also try activities that teach not only what a bird looks like and what sounds a bird makes, but also what a bird does: such as fly, sit in a nest, sing, and lay eggs. For instance, use puppet shows or pretend-play with stuffed animals to teach about bird behaviors.
For preschool-aged children, developmentally appropriate activities involving birds should begin to incorporate more sophisticated knowledge of birds, such as the different species that exist, and also involve more coordinated tasks. At the preschool age, children are coordinated and skilled enough to color and draw, so use coloring books with different birds (penguin, ostrich, bluebird and eagle) or finger-paint birds. Make crafts with colored feathers, or build a nest with string and scraps.
In classes during the early elementary years, children begin to learn about bird migration and other behaviors, such as gathering food for young. They also learn about laying, incubating, and hatching eggs. Developmentally appropriate activities making bird feeders, hatching chicks (within a class, of course) and observing birds in nature with binoculars. As they develop reading skills, students can learn more by reading about birds in nonfiction texts, to gain better understanding of different species and their particular behaviors.