Kidnoculars - A Review

Behind our house is a small pond that attracts a whole new world of wild life.  Mister has written to Sea World to ask for an orca, but in the mean time we have been bird hunting.  They spend a great deal of time looking out the window at all the birds that visit our pond.  To encourage their love for the pond, the Easter Bunny brought a pair of binoculars for each kiddo. 

 

 Before the bunny found the binoculars she spent a lot of time researching which pair to get.  I needed something:

 

• durable because things get dropped all the time
• auto focus
• large enough to hold
• preferably large eye holes



The only pair that came close were the Geosafari Jr. Kidnoculars.  They are durable and easy to see through with auto focus.  I think they are a great pair for a young preschooler to practice looking through binoculars.  Also, it creates a whole level of excitement that a pair of toilet paper rolls don't match.  If you are looking for something that really magnifies long distances, then these aren't for you.  

 

 

Funny Birds

Ladybug loves art.  She could paint, draw, color, collage, cut, glue, glitter (no, no, no) all day long.  When I stumbled across a James Rizzi birds art lesson from Deep Space Sparkle, it checked off all her artsy crapsy criteria.

We started by watching YouTube videos of James Rizzi art.  During the videos, we would pause and talk about his style of art, his use of bold colors, and the use of a black outline. 

Then, I walked the kids through how to draw a James Rizzi inspired bird.  Since the Wee One is three, I used some really kid friendly language.

First draw an ice cream cone.
Make your ice cream overflow on the sides.
Draw two circles that are kissing (eyes).
Give two dots on the ice cream cone.
Draw a big oval for a body.
Add a straight line down and two sticks for feet.
Add some scallops or zig-zags on the body.
If you want you can add some hair.

The Wee One's bird.  She was so proud!

 We outlined our work in some oil pastels.  This was our first time working with oil pastels and there was a big learning curve. 

 

Next we added some watercolors.  This was our second attempt after they got a little crazy with their painting.  It was just short of a disaster.

Why yes, those are Santa pajamas in April.  It 14 with the wind chill right now.   

 

 

Ladybug's finished bird.  

I loved these birds so much that I put them in frames.  They are whimsical and colorful and really, really awesome. 

It's a Bird's Life

This month is brought to you by the Peregrine Falcon.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/peregrine_falcon/id

Mister has a tendency to get really focused on one thing and will not let it go.  If you guessed his latest obsession is the peregrine falcon. 

" Hey, did you know that the peregrine falcon can fly 200 mph? If it was flying on the highway, it would get a ticket for flying that fast." 

"Did you know they eat other birds?"  

All day long I'm learning about these birds.  Unfortunately, we won't see one of these birds in our backyard, but that's not stopping him from looking every day.  In the meantime, we are learning about birds.

To kick off our month, here is their Backyard Bird Sensory Bin.

• Green Rice - Grass
• Seeds for eating
• Birdhouse
• Duck Pond
• Nests
• Eggs
• Flower for nectar
• Insects for eating
• Labels
• Backyard Bird Toob plus a hummingbird
• *I will add a tree when I find a branch (we have no trees and no sod right now) or my trees, which are probably packed in a box.