Bird Activities for Preschool

Studying birds is always a hit with preschoolers – these are animals that can FLY, who wouldn’t want to know more?! Birds are animals that children may not interact with directly, but they still play a role in their daily lives, no matter where your students live. This makes them perfect for exploration AND you can easily personalize the learning by choosing birds that are native to your area. Here are some of the preschool bird activities that I love to do in (or outside) the classroom.

Bird watching is a must! Make some binoculars out of cardboard tubes and head outside. You can identify common birds, count the numbers of birds that you see and track this data over time, and talk about where you see birds and why.

Take pictures of birds that you see right outside your classroom. Use these photos to identify the types of birds by matching them to pictures of birds in non-fiction books.

Explore bird seed in the sensory table and discuss why different kinds of seed are appropriate for different kinds of birds. Be sure to watch for potential allergens when you’re selecting a seed mix to bring into the classroom

Hang a bird feeder or create your own, then observe birds as they stop to eat. Collect data about the types of birds that eat here, the time of day they’re most likely to stop, and the frequency of use. Move the feeder to another location and see how this impacts your data.

Explore feathers. See if you can make them fly, and answer questions such as “what happens when feathers get wet?”

Learn the names of different birds using one of my resources! These Bird Vocabulary Cards are a favorite for sure.