Bird watching for children can be a fun and exciting hobby that many will continue all their life’s. Bird watching teaches children the importance of taking care of animals and many families spend a lot of quality time outdoors watching birds and learning all about nature.
Children will also gain respect for animals through bird watching, and it can also be helpful in teaching them about nature, and they can tell their teachers and fellow students all about nature and their bird watching hobby.
You will need basic knowledge to take your children bird watching.
You will need to self-educate yourself before you take your children bird watching for the first time. You can search on the internet for the best places to see birds and take your children there. You can also put up bird feeders, bird baths, and birdhouses in your yard to draw birds into your yard.
Put a bird feeder up in front of one of your windows and teach your children to approach the window slowly so they can catch whatever is going on there. If you have a good camera with photo lenses, you can teach your children to take photos of the birds just outside the window.
If you take your children birdwatching, make sure that the place you are taking them is safe. If your going to a park or nature preserve call and tell the people operating the nature preserve or park that you are planning to bring children to bird watching and ask if they have suggestions for you. Ask what facilities are available on site and what will you need to bring with you. Ask if there are any fees and if there is a particular spot or place where people go to bird watch.
On the day of your event:
Try to bring a pair of binoculars for every 2 children.
You will want a bird field guide for every 2 children. If this is going to be a regular event, suggest that the parent of each child buy each child a bird field guide.
Be sure you have enough snacks, juice, or bottled water for all the adults and children on the bird watching trip.
Each child on the bird watching trip should be provided with their own notebook and pen to make notes about the birds they see and notes about what is going on around the birds.
Bring at least one good camera to take pictures of the birds you see and of the children. When you print the photos, have a set printed for each child on the bird watching trip.
If it’s going to be cold outside be sure that each child arrives dressed warmly for the bird watching trip.
If its summer time, make sure each child wears a hat and that plenty of sunscreen is available.
It’s a good idea to have a basic first aid kit along. If the children are going to be going on regular bird watching trips together maybe you can have the children come up with a group t-shirt design and have a t-shirt made up for each person taking part in the bird watching trip. The children will like being part of a group, and the t-shirts will help the parents along on the journey to identify the children with the bird watching group.
Children today quite often don’t get enough exercise but if you start to take them bird watching on a regular basis your children and you should start getting some great exercise.
You can check out bird watching videos for sale on nature sites and purchase a few for the children to enjoy on a rainy day when they can’t go bird watching. You might also want to buy a big full-color bird guide that you can read and look at together and learn about birds. Watch a bird related video and serve popcorn and other snacks. Make it a fun time for all.
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