There are so many great Don and Audrey Wood books, but the one that caught our eye this time around was Birdsong by Audrey Wood.
This book is beautifully illustrated by Robert Florczak and introduces a variety of birds and their habitats. What my kids loved most about the book was hearing what each bird’s “birdsong” was. We decided to craft our own birds (a craft we found on freekidscrafts.com) create names for them, and come up with what their birdsong might be if they were real birds.
I just had to post this picture. My son, is so used to me taking photos for my blog, that he now thinks it’s hilarious to make weird faces while he is working on his craft. Anyways, we were having a little chuckle about him making faces and I snapped this photo while we were talking. I just love his smile.
Supplies:
- Paper plate
- Glue
- Tissue paper
- Curly ribbon
- Construction paper
- Stapler
Directions:
First fold your paper plate in half and then apply glue to the back side of the plate. I ended up helping both my kids apply a thin layer of glue over the entire paper plate. This way they didn’t have to keep applying a dab of glue for each piece of tissue paper. We were trying to be efficient. 😉
Then let your kid(s) apply various colors of tissue paper onto the plate. I bought tissue paper at the craft store that were already cut up into small squares, but you can easily cut out or tear pieces from a sheet (it will just add an extra step).
Next we took orange construction paper and cut out a triangle and then folded it in half. Here is an example of both (folded and unfolded). This is the beak of the bird.
Still hard at work, applying tissue paper to her bird.
Next, have your child pick their favorite color construction paper for the wings. Fold it accordion style. You will want to fold it along the longer side of the paper, so that the wings are nice and long.
Take some white construction paper and cut out two circles for the eyes. Draw a black dot in each circle for the pupil.
Fold your paper plate in half and glue an eye on each side of the plate. Next, take your beak and glue the fold of the beak into the fold of the paper plate.
You might want to use an X-Acto knife for this next part. I just poked my scissors through the plate, but be careful not to tear it since it is still damp from the glue. You want to cut a slit big enough for the construction paper (the wing) to slide through. And make the same cut, in the same location on the other side. (This is where the X-Acto knife might come in more handy). Once you are done cutting both sides, slide your wing into the slit.
And finally, take some curly ribbon, and cut about 10 long strands for the tail. I let the kids choose the colors and how many they wanted. I tied all of them together at the end and then stapled this end into the fold of the paper plate. I then glued one more piece of tissue paper over the staple, so that it couldn’t be seen.
Here are the finished birds. My kids named their birds and came up with what sound their birds would make. My daughter (who is 3) named her bird Winger. She said her bird would sing “Tweet, tweet, tweet”. And my son (who is 6) named his bird Fire Wing. He said his bird would whistle “Ffeeeeew, Ffeeeeew, Ffeeeew” (I hope I translated that whistle correctly) 😉
This was the only photo I could get of my kids playing with these birds. They loved this craft so much they played with them for a good straight hour after we finished making them They continued playing with them later that night and into the next day. So you’re probably wondering…if they played with it so long, how come this was the only photo you got? Well, I gave up after a while…the kids were running around the house flying their birds up into the air, that I just couldn’t capture a good one. 😉 This mommy was tired.
The Summer Virtual Book Club for Kids is a place for bloggers/parents/teachers, etc. to explore some fabulous authors and new books! Each month we will study a new author and each participant will choose a book (or more than one) to share on their blog by that author. Each month we will have a link up where we can share any book-related activities, projects, etc.Here are the authors for this summer and linky dates:June 18th- Mo WillemsJuly 16th- Don and Audrey WoodAugust 20th- Kevin Henkes
We hope you enjoyed our post! If you’ve done a Don and Audrey Wood activity, join the fun and link up with us and all these other wonderful bloggers!