As a class, participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which takes place in February each year. You simply observe the birds while on the school playground for four days, make a list of the birds and report them on the Great Backyard Bird Count website. This bird-watching mission gets children excited and actively involved in bird identification. During the bird watch week, provide multiple stories, songs and art activities relating to birds.
Children can learn to distinguish birds by the contrasting calls they make. You can find a recording of bird sounds online and play it for the children, presenting a picture of each bird as you listen. Take the children to the playground for a listening activity and ask them to quietly listen for bird sounds. After reviewing bird calls, the children can play a game and copy the sounds they heard. They can take turns imitating and guessing the different bird calls.
Create a bird egg and nest matching game to teach students more about specific bird qualities. Cut out five nests from brown felt and put them on a flannel board. Then print out pictures of different birds and their eggs and place a felt backing on them. The children can put the birds and their eggs into nests together based on the physical qualities of the eggs. As a follow up, bring in distinctive bird eggs and nests to display in the science center.
Children can better identify birds after classifying them into separate habitats. Review the word habitat with the students and introduce bird habitats, such as coastal, forest, rainforest, wetlands, woodlands and arctic. Find depictions for each of these habitats along with pictures of birds that live in them and ask the children to sort birds into their proper environments. You can point out features of birds that make them specific to certain habitats.
Print some photos of different bird tracks from your computer and use them for a bird track mystery game with the students. Before the children arrive in the classroom, make several different trails with the bird tracks. The children can guess which type of bird would make each track. They will then follow each trail, finding clues about the bird along the way. Each trail will end with a photo of the bird who matches the tracks. Students can then try to paint or stamp various bird tracks in the art center.