This spring we have the pleasure of watching the backyard birds come to our bird feeders and build a nest in a nearby tree. Little Bee is fascinated with learning about the little creatures who visit us everyday. I personally love to hear the birds singing in the morning outside our windows. The birds are such a happy addition to our homeschool learning environment. This Montessori inspired bird unit covers the life-cycle of birds, anatomical structure of a bird using a Montessori puzzle, learning about nests, creating a pinecone bird feeder, matching activities, and practical life skills. 

Materials Needed for the Montessori Inspired Bird Unit

• Montessori Bird Puzzle with Skeleton
• Bird Nomenclature Cards (free printable)
• Bird Life-Cycle Book (your choice - options listed below)
• "Real" Nest (optional - if you can find one unoccupied) and bird feathers
• Magnifying Glass (optional for examining the nest and feathers)
• Wooden Eggs and Singing Bird (optional)
• DIY Bird Feeder - Pinecone, sunflower seeds, almond or peanut butter, twine
• Age of Montessori - Royal Road to Reading Bird Cards (optional)
• Safari Ltd Backyard Birds TOOB and Free Matching Cards
• Practical Life - Bird feeder, shovel, bucket, bird seed

Montessori Bird Puzzle

The Montessori zoology puzzles are amazing for practicing fine motor control and learning the anatomical structure of the bird. This beautiful bird puzzle has the shape of a bird skeleton underneath. Little Bee matched the pieces of the puzzle to "The Helpful Garden" - Montessori Zoology Nomenclature cards.

Bird Life-Cycle

Little Bee is learning about the life-cycle of birds with two amazing books: "Nest" and "Life-Cycle Books by Althea - Birds." We also examined a beautiful Robin Poster from Egg to Bird printable that showed the blue eggs in the nest, little pink balls of fluff, baby birds with their mouths open waiting for food, and a last image of adolescent birds. 

Bird Nest Discovery

One day on my walk around the neighborhood, I found a gorgeous "real" nest on the side of the road that had fallen out of a tree after a storm. It was intact and in great shape. I was giddy to have found such a treasure and brought it home. I put wooden eggs inside the nest and set up a tray with a magnifying glass for Little Bee to examine.

DIY Pinecone Bird Feeder

Next Little Bee built a bird feeder out of a pinecone, sunflower seeds, almond butter, and twine. He enjoyed getting his hands sticky with the almond butter and sunflower seeds. After he was done making the sticky messy pinecone bird feeder, I wrapped twine around the top and we tied it to a tree in the front  yard. The birds liked it and the squirrels LOVED it!

Montessori Pre-Reading Matching Work

I invested in the Montessori "Royal Road to Reading" program for Little Bee. One of the activities included in this program is bird matching vocabulary cards. I was pleasantly surprised with how fast Little Bee matched all 16 pairs of birds and he was eager to start matching the word cards.

If you are not interested in purchasing the Royal Road to Reading program, here is a wonderful free printable for 36 different backyard birds - Montessori 3-part cards.

Last year, Little Bee enjoyed matching the Safari Ltd Backyard Birds TOOB with these photos of real life Backyard Birds (free printable.) This matching activity was part of our Montessori Inspired Letter B Introduction.

Practical Life - Caring for the Birds

Little Bee embraces the responsibility of caring for the backyard birds very seriously. He loves to fill up his bucket with bird seed and then transfer it carefully with his shovel to the bird feeder. This is a wonderful hand-eye coordination activity. After the bird feeder was full, we hung it up and waited for the birds to visit. Watching nature in action is a great reward for our efforts!

Please visit our other Zoology Unit Studies ~

Turtle

Frog

Snake

Bees

Penguin

Winter Forest Animals

May: Nature/Outdoors

Pond Theme Activities - STEM - Free Printables | Natural Beach Living

Exploring our Senses Outdoors (Montessori Silence Game) – Printables | The Natural Homeschool

Montessori Nature Tray with Vocabulary - Parts of the Plant | Living Montessori Now

Montessori Inspired Bird Unit - Mama’s Happy Hive

Montessori-inspired Preschool Bird Unit Study | Sugar,Glitter & Spice

Montessori-inspired Backyard Bird Activities | Every Star is Different

Nature in the Field | Grace and Green Pastures

Listening Scavenger Hunt to Explore Creation | Christian Montessori Network