Nature study free printable Bird Book ⋆ R.E.A.L.-World Learners

This free nature study printable will help your kids enjoy observing the world around them, learn to do a little bit of research, and create projects worth sharing and saving in a learning library of their own!

Nature study free printable Bird Book - enjoy learning about birds with this notebooking activity using bird cards and mini-book templates. #naturestudy #notebooking #unitstudy #freeprintables #birdwatching #realworldlearners

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A tree in our front yard recently became home to a dove family. (We dutifully documented the nest on Instagram, since the birds can’t ‘gram for themselves ;).)

We’ve been watching the comings and goings of the mama and papa birds for some time now, and the boys have written encouraging notes for them on post-its and stuck them to the window, hoping the doves will learn to read, I suppose.

We started talking about all the other birds we could see in our yard, and then tried remembering names of all the birds we’d Ever Seen, and soon we needed a little book to keep track of our birds.

So I made one. And then 3 more. And a set of pictures cards for all the birds we could name.

You can get a copy for your own nature studies and adapt it as needed for your own learners. (Link is at the end of this post.)

Mini-books

Free Nature Study printable bird book template

There are 4 variations on the mini-book:

Birds in my backyard
Birds in the Wild
Birds at the Zoo
blank booklet for any other category (perfect for documenting the feedings habit and natural habitat of Angry Bird (TM), or Woodstock (TM), or Big Bird (TM))

Bird pictures

I pulled up pictures of all the birds we’ve run across and made cards for each. (One set is pictures only; one set has bird names.)

Nature study free printable bird book - some images of birds with names

Simple research project

Over the next few days, we filled in several books, until we had a mini library of bird books. For each page, I had the boys do a very simple “research report.” I had them write (or dictate to me):

One thing they know about the bird
One question they want to ask Google about the bird
One other random fact (about what the bird eats, or where it lives, or how it makes a nest, etc.)

Keeping it simple helped us maintain momentum on the project :). You could raise the bar on this if your kids can handle something a bit more intense!

Simple unit study

To get the most out of this nature study free printable bird book activity and turn it into a simple mini unit study, I would recommend:

Set up a bird watch station – at a window, in your yard, or at a park. See how many birds you can find and try to name them all (or look them up by searching some distinctive feature). Try taking pictures of the birds you see and make your own bird cards to use with these books!
Print out this free set of bird cards and books.
Cut out the bird cards (with or without labels) and glue them onto the boxes on each page of the books.
Write the bird name at the top and fill in the “notebooking” section with information about the birds.
(Simple research tips for kids:If you are writing something you found online, try writing it in your own words instead of copying the article directly, and don’t forget to cite the source!)
Check out library books about birds.
Visit an arboretum or nature center and see what you can learn about birds there.

Extra credit …

If you want to go the extra mile on this, you can pick up some binoculars, play a game of bird bingo, read a bird guide book, and color in some beautiful bird pictures :).