This Activity Is for the Birds

In anticipation of a trip to visit my grandson, I began to remember the warm summer days when my sons were two years old. We had great fun putting up a tire swing, playing in the sprinkler, or laying in the grass and looking up at the clouds.

Kids have an instinctive way of savoring the moment. Whatever they thought of to do, they would giggle and snort with no fear of looking silly. Those days of summers past that I enjoyed so much with my sons had no steps or directions. It was imaginative and unstructured play.

I was sure that on my upcoming trip, my grandson and I could find plenty of nature activities to do and new places to explore, but I felt I needed to arrive with a few ideas under my “grandma hat.” The last time I was walking with him, I noticed that he tended to look down as we walked. He looked for bugs to examine or small rocks to collect.

This visit, I wanted us to try looking up! There are so many things to watch up above. We could look up and discuss the types of clouds in the sky or observe the birds as they land and take off from the tree branches.

I decided we could make cereal chains to hang from the trees. They’re easy to create and provide plenty of opportunity for developing fine motor skills.

Fill a bowl with O-shaped cereal.

Take one piece of long yarn and tape one end of the yarn to the table.

Help your child to thread the end of the yarn that’s not taped down through the O-shaped cereal pieces until many begin to stack together. (This is good for developing fine motor skills.) Your child can continue to stack the cereal pieces on the yarn until you have 15 or more on the yarn.

Take the taped end of the yarn off of the table and show your child that you are tying the two ends of the string together so that he or she can hang the bird’s treats in a nearby tree, and watch the birds enjoying it. Have your binoculars ready to see the birds up close.