Birds (Adventurers) Honor

Nature Study

Requirements

1. Tell how God cares for birds. Show a Bible verse about it.

   Answer: God cares for the birds by giving them food, a place to build a nest, and ways to protect themselves. Even though the birds do not plant or store food, God feeds each one. A verse that talks about this is Matthew 6:26: 'Look at the birds of the sky: they do not sow or reap, and the heavenly Father feeds them'. Jesus used this to say that if God cares for the birds, He cares much more for us. — Jesus taught in Matthew 6:26 that God feeds the birds to show how much He cares for each one of us.

2. Set up a feeder or a water dish to attract little birds.

   Answer: Do this with an adult: 1) Take a clean plastic bottle or an empty milk carton. 2) Ask the adult to cut a little window in the side for the food to go in. 3) Put seeds (millet, sunflower) in the feeder, or clean water if it is a water dish. 4) Run a string through it and hang it on a tree branch or on the porch, away from cats. 5) Always change the food and water and watch the little birds arrive. — A simple feeder or water dish attracts little birds and helps you watch them up close.

3. Be able to recognize ten different birds.

   Answer: You need to look at and say the names of ten different birds. Some examples that are easy to know in Brazil are: 1) great kiskadee, 2) thrush, 3) sparrow, 4) pigeon, 5) rufous hornero, 6) hummingbird, 7) toucan, 8) vulture, 9) chicken, and 10) parrot. You can recognize them by their color, their size, and the song of each one. — Recognizing many birds helps you notice the beauty and variety of God's creation.

4. Build a game about birds.

   Answer: Do this with an adult: 1) Choose a simple kind of game, like a memory game or a puzzle. 2) Draw or cut out pictures of birds (you can use old magazines). 3) For the memory game, make matching pairs of each bird and glue them onto little cards of the same size. 4) Shuffle the cards face down. 5) Play with friends, turning over two cards at a time to find the pairs, saying the name of the bird. — Creating a bird game makes learning fun and helps you remember the names of the little birds.

5. Draw or paint the following:
   • Two waterbirds;
   • Two little birds;
   • One bird of prey.

   Answer: Do this with an adult: 1) Get paper and pencils or paint. 2) Draw two water birds (that live near the water), like a duck and a teal. 3) Draw two small birds, like a great kiskadee and a thrush. 4) Draw a bird of prey (that hunts other animals), like a hawk or an owl. 5) Color each one with the right colors and write the name underneath. You can look at real photos to help. — Drawing different kinds of birds helps you notice how each group has its own shape and way of living.

6. Imitate the characteristic sounds of five birds.

   Answer: Do this with an adult: 1) Choose five birds that have easy sounds, like the great kiskadee, rooster, duck, owl, and chicken. 2) Listen to each one's sound in videos or live in the backyard. 3) Practice imitating each sound with your mouth (the rooster goes 'cock-a-doodle-doo', the duck goes 'quack-quack', the owl goes 'hoo-hoo'). 4) Show the five imitations to your leader or family, saying the name of each bird. — Imitating the song of the birds trains your ear to recognize them just by their sound.

7. Prepare a basket or a box with materials that birds use to make nests and hang it in a tree or somewhere in the backyard.

   Answer: Do this with an adult: 1) Take a little basket or an open box. 2) Put inside materials that birds use to build nests, like thin twigs, dry grass, straw, little pieces of string, and cotton. 3) Run a string through it and hang it on a tree or in a protected spot in the backyard. 4) Watch from far away as the birds take the materials to build their nest. — Offering nest materials helps the birds and lets you see up close how they build their home.

8. Observe some birds and imitate their characteristic movements.

   Answer: Do this with an adult: 1) Go to a place with birds, like the backyard, a square, or a park. 2) Stay very quiet and watch how each bird moves (the pigeon bobs its head forward, the hummingbird flaps its wings very fast, the vulture glides without moving its wings). 3) Choose a few birds and imitate their movements with your body. 4) Show your family or your leader and say the name of each bird you imitated. — Imitating the birds' movements helps you notice how each one walks, flies, and behaves.

9. Put together an album of pictures or drawings of birds, and include samples of feathers that they have lost naturally.

   Answer: Do this with an adult: 1) Get a notebook or a folder to be your album. 2) Glue pictures of birds from magazines or make your own drawings on each page. 3) Write the name of each bird under the picture. 4) Look on the ground in the backyard or park for feathers the birds lost on their own (never pull a feather from a bird) and glue them in the album. 5) Wash your hands well after handling feathers. Show your finished album to your leader. — Making an album keeps everything you learned about the birds in one place, to show and remember.