Bird Beak Activities for Kindergarten

Learning about bird beaks can be exciting for kindergarten students.

Learning about birds can be both educational and fun for kindergarten students. Activities that teach basic information like bird body parts can help young students understand more about the natural world around them. Activities that center on beaks and how different birds use them can relate to just about any subject.

Arts and Craft Activities

Use pictures of birds to give children ideas for their bird beak art activities.

Use arts and craft activities to get kindergarten students excited about birds. You and your class could make a baby chick out of construction paper and tissue paper, using candy corn for the beak. You can create baby chick sock puppets with your class using orange pipe cleaners for legs and orange felt for beaks. Cut out pictures of different types of birds and help your students make a bird beak collage. Encourage them to get creative and draw pictures of their own imaginary birds and beaks.

Story Time Activities

Children can observe a bird's beak through a hands-on experience.

Read lots of stories about birds, encouraging your kindergartners to point out any bird beak differences that they notice. Use storybooks that have bright, colorful pictures, like Anna Milbourne's "In the Nest" and Joyce Dunbar's "Baby Bird," to capture your student's attention. Allow students to make beak masks with materials like construction paper and yarn. They can use their "beaks" to act out favorite bird stories, rhymes and songs. If possible, bring a small pet bird to class for the children to quietly observe, touch and hold.

Science Activities

The great blue heron has a long, sharp beak.

A science unit on birds can include activities that focus on how different birds use their beaks. Have children look at a variety of bird pictures and match them up with pictures of the foods that they eat. For example, the great blue heron has a long, thin beak that is just right for spearing fish. The red-tailed hawk uses it sharp, curved beak to snatch up mice and other rodents. Check out short DVD's about birds from the local library and view them with your kindergarten class.

Extension Activities

You can extend a kindergarten unit on birds and their beaks by having the children learn about other parts of a bird. Activities that focus on the different types of feathers, wings, legs or claws of birds can really get your kindergarten class excited about learning about the natural world.

References

• Artists Helping Children: Chicken and Rooster Crafts
• Ohio DNR: Bird Beaks
• PreKinders: Forest Theme