Activity Name: Birds

Approximate length of experience: 20 min

Age and number of children: 6 five year olds

Goal: To become familiar with physical characteristics of birds

Domain: physical, cognitive and language

Content:

Fact: what color are the bird’s feathers?

Vocabulary: green, blue, color, feathers, tan, pink, orange, white, brown, black, yellow,

purple, red

Fact: What are the bird’s body parts?

Vocabulary: wings, bird, bill, head, eyes, feathers, feet, claws, tail, beak, leg

Objectives: Participation in this activity will increase the child’s ability to

1. Draw the different parts of a bird.

2. Identify and describe the different colors of bird feathers.

3. Demonstrate where the feathers go on a bird’s body.

Materials: white paper, crayons/markers/color pencils, artificial feathers, scissors, glue, and

color chart of basic colors (e.g., red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, brown/tan, black,

white), detailed pictures of birds with feathers

Procedure: Begin the lesson by showing the children the color chart, and clearly identifying

each color on the chart.

Next: Show the children the various pictures of birds with feathers

Next: Hand out to the children a white paper that has a pre-drawn bird on it without any feathers.

Next: Each child will receive a few artificial feathers and will be asked the following questions:

Can you tell me what color the feather is? (Memory)

What patterns do you see on each feather? (Convergent)

Which feathers would you like to use for your bird? (Evaluative)

Instruct the children to cut the feathers and ask the following questions:

Where do you think the feathers go on a bird? (Divergent)

(If no reply) show the children where and where not the feathers go on a bird.

Do you want all the same color feathers on your bird or different colors? (Convergent)

Instruct the children to glue the feathers they cut onto the paper that has the drawing of their

bird.

Extension: Time and children’s interest permitting, proceed to the following: I have pictures of

different species of birds such as parrots, toucans, pigeons, geese, ducks, and eagles. Children

can compare how the bird’s bodies look different from one another and also compare colors and

feather patterns.
Simplification: Show an example of a bird drawing with feathers glued on it that was already

completed. Use simpler questions if students have difficulty answering particular questions.

Evaluation: Direct Observation and Collecting of work

What Next: If lesson goes well, the focus of the next lesson will be on where the birds live and

what they eat in those locations.

Evaluation of appropriateness of the category (type) of question used: Given the age and

knowledge of the children I believe that the questions are age appropriate and fit a category that

the children will show interest in. The questions help children enhance their skills in naming

colors and being able to compare feathers by color and patterns. By cutting the feathers they are

increasing their fine motor skills. When they glue the feathers to their paper they are stimulating

their creativity. If the children are to finish before the others in class they have the opportunity to

compare their drawings to their classmate’s drawings.