Hummingbird Craft

We learned about beautiful hummingbirds today! I saw this cute craft at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman, using poms poms, a toothpick and a muffin cup, but I changed it a bit to better suit my kids.

We started yesterday by painting half of a small paper plate with watercolors.

Then today we put it together. I made peanut-shaped bodies and cut the paper plate into thirds. Since I can't cut into three equal pieces without measuring, I just cut a triangle from one end,

then used that as a template to cut the other end,

and the piece that was left was bigger. That way, two pieces would be the same and serve as the wings. And the remaining piece was the tail. The kids glued them to the back of the hummingbird body.

Then they flipped it over and drew eyes, but I think wiggle eyes would be cute.

For the sparkly gorget (yes, we all made male hummingbirds), the kids put a drop of glue on the "throat" and spread it around with a paintbrush.

Then they added glitter.

When it was dry, the kids picked out a colored toothpick to use for the bill. (I used a black sharpie to color my toothpick, but I thought the kids might as well have colorful ones!) I poked a hole with the toothpick under the eyes, and then added a mini glue dot to the back, directly over the hole.

I cut the toothpick so it wasn't as long, or as pointy on the back end, and stuck it in the hole. The glue dot kept it there. But I also added a piece of tape to cover up the stickiness of the glue dot.

And that's how we made our hummingbirds!

Because of the sharp toothpick, I decided to hang these guys up high, above our flamingos.

And now I have to put out my hummingbird feeder!

Fun Fact: Hummingbirds are one of the most aggressive bird species and will attack other birds, including hawks, that infringe on their territory.

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Hummingbirds

This week we are learning about birds. On Monday I taught the kids all about hummingbirds. We did a very simple art project. I found a coloring page that I liked and made copies for the children. I put out oil pastels for them to use because they are so bright and rich in color. Then they put some glue on the throat of the hummingbird and sprinkled glitter on it.

In the past I've cut these out and hung them on our windows. They look really pretty and bright with the sun shining through. However, right now our windows are filled with other projects, so I just sent these home when they were dry. The kids learned that only the males have the sparkly gorgets, so some of them wrote "dad" on their paper. Very cute.

Fun Fact: Hummingbirds flap their wings 50 times every second!