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Theme: Winter
Seed Gathering
Objective: Children will understand the difficulties that birds living in cold climates have with getting seeds during winter.
What You Will Need
- Tweezers – 1 per child
- Birdseed – 3 cups
- Ice cube trays – enough so that each child can get 1 ice cube
- Small plastic plates – 1 per child
- Disposable shallow trays – 1 per table
What To Do
Note: This lesson requires preparation the day before the activity.
- The day before the activity, freeze ice cubes containing some bird seed in the water.
- Discuss how birds eat (see Did You Know?).
- Distribute one empty tray to each table. Pour about ½ cup of birdseed on the tray.
- Distribute tweezers, and explain to the children that they will be using tweezers like a bird uses its beak to pick up the seeds (see Did You Know?).
- Discuss the ease or difficulty with this process (see Guiding Student Inquiry).
- Explain that in the cold winter months, seeds get frozen in the earth or in ice and snow, making it more difficult for birds to get enough to eat (see Did You Know?).
- Distribute an ice cube containing bird seed to each child.
- Have the children use the tweezers to try to pick the seeds out of the frozen ice cube.
- Discuss the challenge that the frozen material created for them, and relate this to the challenges for birds living in areas with very cold winters (see Did You Know?).
Guiding Student Inquiry
- Explain how the tweezers are like a bird’s beak.
- Describe the difficulty (or ease) with using the tweezers to pick up the seeds.
- Explain the difference between picking up the seeds on the trays and picking seeds out of the ice cube.
- Explain why seeds are more difficult for birds to eat in winter than in other seasons.
Explore, Extend & Integrate
- When finished with the activity, have the children help scatter the seeds outside for the birds to eat. You can thaw the ice cubes and dry off the bird seeds before scattering.
- Make bird feeders using empty cardboard tubes, solid vegetable shortening, birdseed, and yarn. Each child can spread shortening on a cardboard tube using a plastic knife. Roll the tubes in a pan of birdseed. Thread the yarn through the center of the cardboard tube and tie a knot. Send them home with the children to hang in a tree for the birds to find.
Check for Children’s Understanding
- Could children explain how the tweezers are like a bird’s beak?
- Could children describe using the tweezers to pick up seeds?
- Could children describe the difference in picking up the loose seeds compared with picking up the frozen seeds?
- Could children explain why seeds are more difficult for birds to eat in the winter?
Did You Know?
Most birds eat insects, nuts, and seeds, but some birds are meat eaters. Different types of birds have different types of beaks, depending on what they eat. Meat-eating birds, like hawks and owls, have very sharp, curved beaks for tearing meat into small pieces. Nectar-eating birds, such as hummingbirds, have very long, narrow beaks to draw the nectar from flowers. Seed-eating birds, like finches and cardinals, have short, strong beaks that enable them to crack open seeds.
Did You Know?
Most birds enjoy fruits, seeds, insects, and nuts throughout the year. Winter can be a difficult time for many birds to find food because much of the food that birds enjoy throughout the rest of the year has been consumed. Many birds change their diet during the winter to eat more readily available seeds and nuts. However, seeds and nuts can be difficult for birds to eat because, in some parts of the world, bird’s food can get covered with or freeze in snow and ice.
Vocabulary
- seed - the small part of a plant with flowers that grows into a new plant.
- tweezers - a small metal tool that has two arms, used for picking up small objects.
- beak - the hard part of a bird's mouth.
- winter - the season of the year between autumn and spring.
- frozen - make into ice or become solid from cold temperatures.
- challenge - a difficult problem.
Lesson Tip
You may want to introduce tweezers and have the children practice using them prior to doing this activity.
Books
- Birds by Kevin Henkes
- No Two Alike by Keith Baker
- How Do Birds Find Their Way? (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) by Roma Gans
- When Winter Comes by Nancy Van Laan
Common Core State
Standards Initiative
These lessons are aligned with the Common Core State Standards ("CCSS"). The CCSS provide a consistent, clear understanding of the concepts and skills children are expected to learn and guide teachers to provide their students with opportunities to gain these important skills and foundational knowledge.[2]
Important Legal Disclosures & Information
While we believe that the books and resources recommended may be of value to you, keep in mind that these are suggestions only and you must do your own due diligence to determine whether the materials are appropriate and suitable for your use. PNC has no sponsorship or endorsement agreement with the authors or publishers of the materials listed.
There are currently no Common Core Standards for pre-k, but these lessons are aligned as closely as possible to capture the requirements and meet the goals of Common Core Standards. However, these lessons were neither reviewed or approved by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices or the Council of Chief State School Officers, which together are the owners and developers of the Common Core State Standards.
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