In April 2024, Birdwatchers’ Society had collaborated with Early Bird to facilitate a Nature Walk for children (9-13 years). The parents were highly enthused by their children’s response to this experience and wanted themselves to be included in future events.
We had learnt Squiggle Bird from Early Bird and a creative activity to channelize the children’s spontaneous energy into pen-on-paper activities. We are still using this activity as it continues to be a hit amongst our participants.
Over the last three months we have organized three more nature walks for children including their parents and guardians. Just through word of mouth, our initial group of 9 parents has grown sizably to 61 active members who trust us to guide them and their children in activity-oriented nature education.
Our field walks are not only restricted to bird watching and understanding their behaviour and habitat, but also include exploration of other aspects of nature, engaging multiple senses. Over the last three months these field visits have been enriched by Tirthankar Roy Chowdhury who has introduced the children to local trees, butterflies, moths, damselflies, dragonflies etc. He has also unveiled a new activity – Smell the Leaf, Guess the fruit.
Our very own little Sukumar Ray has discovered a new species, the PorcuPeet during the Bird Walk on 10th Nov 2024!
DID YOU KNOW? Black plum & Rose apple leaves smell like the fruits they bear.
To address the importance of tuning in to the sounds of nature while out in the field, we have developed an original activity called Active Listening
Point in the direction of the Treepie call!
Our Post Walk Activities are sometimes intuitive, sometimes creative and often intellectually stimulating. It ensures that the children continue their engagement in nature education beyond the obviously attractive and stimulating Nature walk. Our bank of activities has grown beyond Squiggle Bird and its unique variations to include Identify the Silhouette and CrossBird Puzzle, two original School of Birds pen-on-paper activities.
Identify the Silhouette is designed to help students learn the various unique shapes specific to the anatomy of bird species which help us identify them.It is also a group activity that parents can do with their children to introduce nature education in their homes.
We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from 25 of these parents regarding their, as well as their children’s experiences in these Nature walks. The following figure shows that all the activities as well as overall engagement have been rated on average around 4.5 or higher out of a maximum of 5.
In short, the children and their parents loved it and the numbers below stand as their testimony for our cause
One of the tougher SIlhouettes to ID – A Crowriole!
In CrossBird Puzzle we use funny and thought-provoking limericks that help children learn to identify birds by their unique behaviours or through pop-culture references.
Test the young bird nerd around you with these riddles!
