Last week went completely to the birds. Ha ha.
We stocked up on bird books* from the library. (Well, mostly from the library. I had to buy Kevin Hanke's 2009 beauty: Birds. "Once I saw seven birds on the telephone wire. They didn't move and they didn't move and they didn't move. I turned my head for just a second...(sharp intake of Lucy's breath)...and they were gone.") 
We made "bli-noc-li-yers" (TP rolls + paint + electric tape. No idea why I have electric tape in my cupboard.) to assist our bird watching endeavors.
We constructed Melanie's darling nests. (Edible education. Very important.)
We looked for local birds on every morning walk and then we toured Tracy Aviary's exotic bird cages last Thursday morning.
Grandma Packer joined the fun with a little bird bread (you can always count on Grandma to embrace a theme =),
We kept FHE on topic with a few ideas from this lesson, and hopefully our homemade bird feeders will extend the life of our bli-noc-li-yers beyond this bird-specific week.
(Lucy made these pine cone/peanut butter delights with her friend Tanner last September after Spencer was born. She had so much fun that we thought we'd better try it again! "It's pretty messy, but pretty fun!" Lucy says.)
Now, before you roll your eyes and think we're way over the top, let me assure you: it was not an exhausting week! It was actually really chill. There was no schedule. Just options -just a little arsenal of ideas to draw on when we needed a to jazz up our afternoon. All of these things could have probably been done in a single day, but spreading them over a week just elongated the conversation and eliminated stress. We loved it and can't wait for our second summer celebration!
Happy bird watching!
Birds, Kevin Henkes (LOVE)
About Birds: A Guide for Children, Cathryn Sill (LOVE)>
Wild Birds, Joanne Ryder (LOVE)
Birds Build Nests, Yvonne Winer (LIKE)
The Emperor's Egg, Martin Jenkins (LOVE)
Mud City, Brenda Guiberson (LIKE)
13 comments:
I love, love it! There is nothing like a theme to make mothering so fun! The kids are always going to be hungry, tired, and messy so why not make add some creativity to the routine! So fun! I can't wait to hear more!
That is really awesome! Have you ever considered being a preschool teacher? Your week last week totally reminds me of "the project approach". I think you would be a fabulous preschool teacher. Just a thought!
So cute! I really should do more things like that... add a focus.
That's funny that Rosalee thinks you should be a preschool teacher... I was thinking you'd be an excellent homeschool teacher! (But, that's only on my mind because I'M going to homeschool... and if I could only be as good as you, Lori....) I guess, technically, you are homeschooling Lucy's preschool right now. And doing such an excellent job!
What a way to cement learning into a little mind: make it fun and revisit the topic daily!
You are too much fun! I LOVE it. I'm going to make a list of all the fun things I want to do with the boys this summer.
Love this! We are talking about Noah's ark and all the animals this week. So if you have any ideas of things we could do that would be great. We are going to build an ark and put some animals in it, make rainbow necklaces and rainbows with tissue paper, and lucky us we were able to see a rainbow yesterday on the way home from swimming.
Are you going to be at the Fitz's party on Saturday?
How clever! I love your celebrations throughout the year and this is brilliant. And I'm so glad that yuo went to the Tracy Aviary, that's a spot on our list of places to visit. :) Way to be inspiring!
What a grand idea! I am going to have to stock this one away for when my little bird gets a bit older.
Just in case... to alleviate any e-mail digging... stefani dot mons at gmail dot com
Oh my gosh, you are the cutest mom! Can I be like you Lori when I grow up?
When I read that you check out books I thought abotu suggesting the one that you purchased. We have had it check out for about 40 days here. Our favorite is when the tree yells Surprise! It always gets giggles.
And, that comment needed some editing- sorry. check out should be checked out.
I love this! This is just what I want to do with my kids! I feel newly inspired to try things like that. I'm going to go see if our little Juneau library has that Birds book!
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