Tips for Birding With Kids

Children will stay more focused on bird-watching if they're given guiding questions to think about.  Some questions that will help them learn more about birds through their own observations are:

• What colors are the birds that they see?
• How big are different birds (compared to each other, or to other objects nearby)?
• Where do they see the birds (bird feeder, ground, trees, electric wires)?
• What birds do they most commonly see? (They don't need to know the names yet, but they can answer with descriptive terms.)
• What birds do they see just once in a while?
• What kind of behavior do they see in the birds?
• How do the birds interact with each other?
• What kinds of songs and sounds to the birds make?

Older kids can keep a log of their observations, including their answers to these questions.  Younger children can make simple drawings of what they see, or have you help them record their observations.  Very young kids can be asked simple questions, such as "Where is the red bird?", "Which is the biggest bird?", "What do you think that bird is doing?".

Keep their birding sessions short.  An easy way to kill chidren's enjoyment of nature, including bird-watching, is to insist they spend more time on it than they want to.  For younger kids, keep it to a few minutes.  Older children with longer attention spans might be easily engaged for longer.

In between outdoor bird-watching sessions, your children may enjoy reading about wild birds and looking at pictures of birds that they might see in their backyards.

The books listed above are representative of the good quality bird books geared toward young birders.  Also note the journal where kids can record their observations of the birds they've seen.

I especially like this poster (right) of North American Backyard Birds.  Many are common to where I live.  

When your kids are familiar with many of the common birds in your own backyard, take them out on field trips to see birds in other habitats.  Have them tell you which birds are the same as ones they're familiar with, and which birds are new to them.   Take along bird guide books geared toward children and see if you and they can identify the new birds.

Visit your local park, a nearby field, nature preserve, or a lakeshore.   You can talk about how different kinds of birds prefer different habitats.  If your kids are used to seeing smaller birds in your yard, it will be fun to take them to see larger birds, such as ducks and geese.    Have your kids record their observations as they did when they were looking at backyard birds.

You may be able to find birding programs at nature centers that are geared toward children.  It's fun to go out with other families on a guided tour to find new birds and learn interesting facts about them!

Your kids will enjoy seeing birds up close and personal by looking at them through binoculars.   You don't need expensive binoculars for your kids.   Choose a pair that is durable and can withstand accidental dropping.

Have your children practice finding backyard birds in the binoculars before taking them out on a birding field trip.