Birds Theme Preschool Lesson Plan Ideas

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Do you have a budding or even expert birdwatcher (also known as an ornithologist) in your classroom? Then these birds theme preschool lesson plan ideas are just what you need. And if you’re like most preschool teachers, you’re always collecting preschool lesson plan ideas.

In this post, you’ll find preschool lesson planning ideas and activities for a preschool bird theme. Included are fun arts and crafts, serious science experiments, and of course hands-on play and learning.

All these lesson planning ideas are typed up in a tidy lesson plan at the end of this post…and they’re completely free!

Free Bird Theme Preschool Lesson Plans

preschool lesson plan ideas for preschool bird theme
Free preschool lesson plans for a bird theme.

Have you ever caught a young child bird-watching? Preschoolers are so intrigued by birds, mainly because most fly and soar high in the sky. There are so many types of birds all around the world, and they are vastly different…just like each of us!

In these preschool lesson plans, little ones will love building bird nests, exploring feathers, making bird feeders, and much more. With lots of play and learning in mind, here are some fabulous resources for planning your preschool birds, feathers, and nests theme.

FAQ About a Teaching a Bird Preschool Theme

How do you introduce birds to your preschoolers?

Develop little birdwatchers as you teach this theme! Using paper towel tubes and some tape, invite students to make their own pair of birdwatching binoculars. Spend time outside looking for birds, feathers, and nests, and exploring how birds spend their time.

Use birdseed for sensory play and spread it outside to encourage birds to visit. Use craft feathers and recycled materials to build nests. The options are endless and your preschoolers will be ‘raven’ about it!

What age do kids learn about birds, feathers, and nests?

Preschoolers and toddlers love watching and learning about birds. My preschoolers are obsessed with these backyard bird fact flashcards and this companion bird memory game. This theme is also great for older students as they learn about their in-depth migration, various species and attributes, and bird habitats.

What should I teach in a birds, feathers and nest theme?

Here are some concepts to include in a birds, feathers, and nest preschool lesson plans in early childhood:

~ nesting habits and materials
~ egg-laying
~ flying south for the winter
~ diet and beak shape
~ feathers
~ various bird species
~ how mothers care for their chicks

Important Info About These Bird Lesson Plans

The Learn at Home Preschool Lesson Plans are free lesson plans you can use to teach your preschooler at home.

All the preschool learning activities are quick and easy to set up, designed to save time, requiring hardly any (if any at all) prep and only requires the most basic of household materials. This makes them especially easy for parents to implement…and this makes preschool teachers especially happy, too!

Just glance over the lessons each day, gather the very few materials needed, and you’re ready to go!

But don’t be fooled by the name “at home” preschool lesson plans! These activities work wonderfully in the classroom as well, and if you’re a preschool teacher who is remotely teaching you can send these lesson plans to your student’s parents.

preschool lesson plan ideas for preschool bird theme
Teach a bird preschool theme with these preschool lesson plan ideas.

Hands-on Preschool Activities for a Birds, Feathers, and Nests Theme

Learning about birds can be so ’emu’sing! With hands-on materials, free exploration, and nature, your preschoolers will be immersed in learning. Here are some popular activities to keep with your birds, feathers, and nests lesson plans.

Literacy Activities for a Birds, Feathers, and Nests Preschool Theme

Birds on a Branch ABC Game – This ABC printable activity matching game is fun and challenging for your preschooler. The goal is to match all of the lowercase purple birds to the uppercase orange birds on the branch. If you spread out the uppercase cards, it makes it easier for young learners to see all options when looking for the correct match. It might be best to play this game with only 5-6 cards out at a time, so as not to overwhelm your preschooler.

Bird Seed Writing Tray – Get some good use out of a bag of birdseed! Pour some seed on a flat plate or tray and have a few alphabet cards handy for your preschooler to look at. Encourage your preschooler to use their index finger to trace the letter in the birdseed. Say the letter name and sound (bonus points for also naming something that begins with that letter sound). Then carefully shake the plate back and forth and voila! Time to trace again!

Best Bird Picture Books

If you’ve been a subscriber for a while, you know how I feel about hand-selecting picture books to go along with my preschool themes. Here are the picture books I love for a bird theme.

Math and Science Activities for a Birds, Feathers, and Nests Preschool Theme

Bird Eggs Counting Mats – When paired with playdough, counters, or even plastic mini eggs, these bird counting mats are perfect for practicing counting skills. Build a nest with yarn or twigs and add in some jumbo tweezers for some additional fine motor practice.

Counting & Color Activity with Feathers – There’s so much you can do with a bag of feathers! In this activity, match the feathers to colored construction paper and make some colorful birds! Count out different numbers of feathers on each one.

Build a Nest STEAM Activity – Explore nature and grab leaves, twigs, acorns, and anything else that looks worthy of being nest material. Use a paper bowl and begin building a nest. Or use felt, paper, feathers, and get creative!

Allow your preschoolers to lead this activity and determine what materials they think would make the best nest. Encourage them to describe their nest and share why their materials are good for nest-making. To contain the mess, you can do this in a sensory bin.

Best Bird Activity Toys

Every theme deserves a little something extra special. Here are some bird-themed preschool toys that pair nicely with these lesson plan ideas.

Playful Learning Activities for a Birds Theme

Feather Impressions – Get out those colored feathers again along with some playdough to make feather impressions. Smoosh some playdough into a pancake and press the feathers into it. What do you see? Here is our all-time favorite playdough recipe.

Easy Playdough Recipe Without Cream of Tartar

Water Fine Motor Play – Using turkey basters or water pipettes, add some water to a bin and invite your preschooler to squeeze it up and transfer it to another bowl. Squeeze in colored water too!

Hole Punching Paper –  Draw a quick nest shape on a piece of paper. Using a handheld hole punch, grab paper in a variety of colors and invite your preschooler to punch holes…lots of holes! After the hand is tired, collect those small punched holes and create circle art in your nest! Time to get creative!

Here is an excellent YouTube video about birds in Australia that steal trash of one color to attract their mates.

Social-Emotional Activities for a Preschool Birds and Nests Theme

Penguin Emotion Sort – This is a fun, hands-on bird activity for preschoolers that will teach emotions and the faces that correlate with our feelings. Simply print, cut, and swap the faces on the penguin.

“This penguin is feeling excited! What makes you feel excited?” Repeat with other emotions, remembering to ask your preschooler to share what makes them personally feel those emotions. Are they happy or uncomfortable emotions? Which emotions do they like to feel the best?

Grumpy Bird – Go to YouTube and listen to the story Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard. Poor grumpy bird woke up on the wrong side of the bed and is not in a good mood. He decides to go for a walk when all the forest animals decide to join him.

He soon learns that friends can always make even the grumpiest days go away! Grumpy bird isn’t so grumpy at the end of the story.

“When Bird woke up this morning, he felt grumpy. How do you feel today?” Feel free to use the attached pages to draw and color Grumpy Bird, complete the maze, and even have a Grumpy Bird doorknob hanger in case you just need to be left alone for a little while.

preschool lesson plan ideas for preschool bird theme
All about birds preschool theme written up in convenient lesson plans.

Just Plain Fun Preschool Bird Activities

Eat Like a Bird Fine Motor Activity – Sprinkle some birdseed, small crackers, nuts, bread squares, etc. on a tray. Give your preschooler tongs or a clothespin and show them how a bird’s beak is like tongs. Encourage them to pick up the bird snacks “like a bird” using their tong beaks. Move the food items into a bowl and see how much you can grab!

Baby Bird Chalk Art – On a piece of black paper or outside on the sidewalk, draw a chalk art baby bird. It’s so easy, and best of all: so adorable! Challenge your preschoolers to draw a few in size order (small, medium, and large). After drawing, encourage them to jump on each bird and squawk in a soft voice, medium voice, and loud voice as they jump.

Even though this is a writing activity, because of its size, it is also a gross motor activity for kids.

Painting with Feathers – Grab craft feathers and paint and start dipping and painting! Use feathers as your brush. Encourage creativity and free painting. What happens when the colors mix? What happens when you push hard with the feather vs. lightly sweeping it across the paper?

Online Activities for a Birds, Feathers, and Nests Preschool Theme

Online Story – Go to YouTube and listen to the story Hooray for Birds by Lucy Cousins. After listening, discuss the many things that birds can do! What makes them special and unique? Use the illustrations in the book and encourage your preschooler to draw a bird or two. The simple lines of the artwork make this helpful for young artists!

Counting Birds Song – Sing and count along with this familiar song and learn about puffins, parrots, peacocks, and more!

Bird Song – Learn about bird features with this fast song and video that will have your preschooler asking you to play it again and again!

Get Your FREE Birds, Feathers, and Nests Lesson Plans Here

Want to include these birds, feathers, and nests activities in your lesson plans? No problem. I’ve made a printable for you. Just click the image below and the PDF will be emailed to you.

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