I've been reading 'Whose Beak is This?' and 'Whose Feet are These?' to audiences in schools and libraries. It's interesting to see which birds children already know well enough to guess it from its beak, or which animals are easy to guess from their feet. This has to be the easiest!
Beaks are amazing adaptations to the environment and the food birds eat. There are beaks for nectar sipping, beaks for shellfish digging, beaks for fishing and so on. If you pay close attention to the ones in the book, you could then guess what food is eaten by a bird with a similar shape beak. For example, bellbirds (korimako) have a similar curved beak to a tui and they are also nectar eaters.
Beak Matching Activity
This activity was a hit at Storylines Festivals in Dunedin and Christchurch last year. Enlarged images of birds from 'Whose Beak is This?" were on the wall and children were given a sheet of the beak images to match with the birds. This encouraged observation as some of the birds were in similar poses so children had to look closely at the beak detail. If you use this activity with the book, children can also look for information about the bird to add to the sheet.
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| Birds on display at Storylines Festival |
Here's the sheet, download a PDF by clicking on the link below. |
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD BEAK MATCHING ACTIVITY
Related activities
Origami beaky book corner https://explorediscovernature.blogspot.co.nz/2016/09/when-its-raining-kiwi-book-corner-craft.html
Make a Kaka Beak Mask https://explorediscovernature.blogspot.co.nz/2017/04/make-kaka-mask-beaky-fun.html
More help for parents and educators
For more beak related information and activities see the Notes for Children, Parents and Educators on my publisher's website. Each of my books has a page of useful notes, activities, links and curriculum connections which parents, educators, home-schoolers and un-schoolers will find useful.
