We are in the middle of March, so we thought it’d be great to share spring activities for kids who love animals. It will be a three-part series, so welcome to the first episode!
Spring is right around the corner and parents are looking for things to do with their kids that will get them off of screens and make them see the beauty the season brings. If your kid loves animals, including animals in those spring plans would be a great idea.
Every episode of this series will focus on citizen science tailored for kids ages 6 to 12. They will be able to help big legitimate science projects with their observations, thus becoming little scientists themselves! The best part is that it’s 100% free and doable from home!
In this episode, we will be supporting the Cornell Lab of Ornithology with our bird observations!
Jump links
- What is the Cornell Lab of Orthinology?
- Bird watching as part of a list of great spring activities for kids
- Instructions for bird-watching as little scientists
- Your main role in the project
What is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology?
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a lab inside Cornell University that seeks to conserve biodiversity by researching and educating about birds.
As pioneers in citizen science, the lab has numerous projects that motivate curiosity about nature and bring knowledge about birds and their conservation, by including people in their search for answers.
We open the doors to inquiry and learning about the natural world, starting with the earliest ages and lasting a lifetime. Whether you’re a bird lover, an educator, or a student, our curricula, interactive courses, and professional development opportunities will empower you to explore the fascinating lives of birds and ignite a lifelong passion for nature.
– Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Bird watching as part of a list of great spring activities for kids
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has an amazing initiative called “Celebrate Urban Birds” (CUB). Its main purpose is to bring people together to take records of the beautiful birds in their communities.
CUB is a beautiful project to support because they focus on bringing science to under-represented communities in STEM like low-income families and people of color. They do so in many ways, but the main one is by providing easy-to-understand tools.
Supporting CUB is easy! kids can observe birds, keep track of their observations, and report back to the Lab online or by mail, whichever way they prefer.
We believe that becoming part of the CUB initiative by bird watching should be part of a list of great spring activities for kids who love animals because:
- It is a great opportunity for them to learn about their neighborhood birds!
- Also, it teaches them about the way information about animals is created, providing a fun way for them to learn about the scientific method outside of school.
- Lastly, it makes them part of the science behind the conservation of birds, something that will be exciting for them if they love animals.
Instructions for bird-watching as little scientists
The process you will need to follow to do this spring activity with your kids is quite simple:
- First, motivate them telling them they are about to become scientists by doing one of the best spring activities for kids ever!
- Explain to them they are about to observe birds and report them to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Let them know that the scientists at the lab are counting on them!
- Based on their location, give them a list of birds to observe. You can find the list here.
- Print out the Celebrate Urban Birds kit. You can also download it from the end of this post.
- Encourage them to choose a specific time and place for bird-watching and stick to it.
- Guide them to establish the boundaries of their bird-watch area visually. Their bird-watching area should be about the size of half a basketball court.
- Accompany them to spend 10 minutes bird-watching in the chosen area. Do it once on 3 different days of the same week.
- During that time, tell them to keep an eye out for the bird species on the list you gave them. Use the Bird ID Guide as a reference for the birds they see.
- Instruct them to use the Focal Species Tally Sheet found in the Celebrate Urban Birds kit, to keep track of their observations. If they’re unsure about a bird’s identity, advise them to mark it as “UNSURE.”
- Emphasize that all observations, even of no birds, are valuable and should be reported.
- During that time, tell them to keep an eye out for the bird species on the list you gave them. Use the Bird ID Guide as a reference for the birds they see.
- The last step is to send the data to the Cornell lab. The Celebrate Urban Birds kit has a data form you can print, fill out, and send by mail. But, the easiest way is to do it online, using a Citizen Scientist Account.
Your main role in the project
As the supervising adult, your most important job is to make sure they only report birds seen inside their designated bird-watching area, and to remind them not to forget to enter their data!
Below you can find the Celebrate Urban Birds kit with everything you need for this mission!
Download the Celebrate Urban Birds kit.
Conclusion
It can be hard to think about some spring activities for kids that can enrich their lives and go out of the ordinary. This is a great activity for that kid who loves to spend time outside chasing lizards, or the one who is mostly stuck to a screen or a book. The reason is that is based on using the curiosity every child has.
In this blog, we strive to bring knowledge about animals closer to people so that they grow to understand their importance in an organic way, following their own timing.
We have free teaching resources about animals and posts answering questions your animal-loving kid would probably love to know the answer to. Here are some of the latest:
- Red Wolves Lesson Plan for Third-Grade (FREE Template)
- Brown Animals: Photos, Facts and Free Teaching Resource!
- Why Do Flamingos Lose Their Pink? and Why They May Go Extinct
- Why are animals red? The Surprising Reason
- Can fish drown? well, yes and no
Thank you for reading, and we hope you can enjoy this spring activity with your kid(s)!