Planting seeds in kids to recognize, respect and appreciate nature begins at an early age and in your own backyard. Kids are naturally curious; so what better place than the backyard to start a conversation about birds and ways to create and maintain a healthy and safe environment for local birds who consider your yard their home or birds who drop by during seasonal migration.

Prepare a birding tool kit that includes binoculars, pencils, note and sketch pads, and  birding field or activity guide to help your kids get started.

Below are a few recommended field and activity guides for kids of different ages.

• Backyard Birding for Kids by Fran Lee

• Audubon Birding Adventures for Kids: activities and Ideas for Watching, Feeding and Housing our Feathered Friends by Elissa Wolfson

• The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of North  America ( Peterson Field Guides) by Roger Tory Peterson

• Bird Log, a kids’ journal to  record their birding experience by De Anna Brandt

Help your kids learn to respect birds and their habitat. One example is by modeling how to quietly observe a bird’s behavior from a distance, so the bird is not frightened and flies away.

Work with your kids and explore ways to support birds who live in or stopover at your backyard.   

• Build a birdhouse or bird feeder

• Identify a corner in the yard to start a kids’ native plant garden. The garden will attract more birds to the yard

• Build a DIY water source in one or two locations in your backyard.

What other things can you and your kids do to create a bird friendly community in your own backyard? Put on your thinking cap and start planting those seeds to introduce your kids to the wonderful world of birding!