Birdwatching is a fun activity that will also teach your children about the natural world and help with their development. Mark Boyd tells you more.

If you think that wild birds are cautious, flitting creatures, only revealing their secrets to quiet adult watchers, think again. Birds can be accessible and interesting to children as young as two or three years old, and helping them to become interested in birds can be good for their development. This article will help you make a start.

The benefits of taking an interest in the world around us are obvious. For example, you can use wild birds to introduce your child to a range of ideas from observing and identifying, feeding and caring, sticking together, nature and our place in nature, colours, shapes and how different animals live, to name a few. Watching birds also influences your child’s behavioural development, for example, when to stay quiet, creeping up and hiding, looking all around and noticing changes in the weather.

Part of our heritage

Wild birds are as much part of our heritage as Stonehenge – and most of our species have been with us since before the famous bluestones were put in place. If it’s never too soon to introduce children to heritage, it’s never too early to introduce them to wildlife. As with any other topic, getting started is simply about breaking down the subject and looking for ways in which to help young children develop their own interest.

Start simply

Many children find birds funny or fascinating, but to others they are simply invisible. The first challenge is getting children to see birds, and for that you need only take them out for a walk or watch birds coming to a feeder near a window.

For very young children, the ducks in your local pond and the tits on garden feeders will be enough to ignite a spark of interest. The key is to get close to the birds so that your children can have a good look. You don’t need binoculars – very young children won’t be able to use them anyway. You just need to be in the right place at the right time, and looking in the right way.

Next, ask questions about what they can see. For example, how many different types of bird can you see? What colours are those ducks? Can you see anything else that is the same colour? What do you think those pigeons are eating? Why do you think the birds are here? Questions like these get children to look more closely at the different birds they can see and to peek into their lives. You don’t need to be a birdwatcher to help you with this, but a good bird book will give you all the information you need.

Allaying fear

A few children may be scared of birds, either because they think birds will harm them or because they think they may hurt the birds in some way. It’s worth pointing out that wild birds are more cautious of us than we are of them.

The only exceptions to this are likely to be swans or geese in urban areas. A feeding group of swans and geese may provide a colourful, accessible spectacle, but think about it from a child’s viewpoint. Would you be happy to be hissed or honked at by a pack of unpredictable head-high creatures? Me neither! Start with something smaller.

Where to start

A walk almost anywhere at any time of year will take you where you can see wild birds. You may spot jackdaws on the roofs of houses, starlings and blackbirds on lawns, or gulls flying overhead.

Once you have seen birds, why not ask your children to imitate what they were doing? It is fun to copy what birds do – hopping, running, cocking their head to look for worms and having a birdbath. Children can also act out the different types of bird flight – deep arm movements for the slow wing beats of a heron, outstretched arms with just the hands moving for control for a soaring bird or frantic flapping for a wren.

If you really can’t see any birds when you are outside, especially in spring, there is every chance that you can hear them. Getting young children to hear birds singing requires cunning. One technique we use is to ask children to clench their fists, shut their eyes and then uncurl one finger for every new sound they hear. By the time they get to 10 open fingers, they will have heard at least one bird. And if there are several different bird sounds in that 10, you could ask them to point to where they think the sounds are coming from and try and find the birds for real.

Tools of the trade

Children can start using binoculars from the age of four. We know that the first time children see a bird close up through binoculars or a telescope they are amazed. The detail and the intimacy of being able to look into another creature’s life, without disturbing it, remain absorbing to birdwatchers all their lives.

Many binoculars are unsuitable for small hands and heads. They may be too heavy, they may not fold close enough for children to see through both eyes at once, or they may be too wide for children to reach the focusing ring in comfort. Compact-style binoculars are usually best for children, and the lower the c magnification, the better. RSPB Wildlife Explorers binoculars at a low six times magnification are ideal (visit www.rspboptics.com to buy these).

As well as binoculars, the two things that you are most likely to use when starting birdwatching are a bird book and a notebook. Many bird books cover the whole of Europe – too much for a walk in the park. The RSPB Children’s Guide to Birdwatching limits itself to the first 100 birds you are most likely to see. Encouraging your children to draw what they see in a notebook helps them to look closely at the birds they see – don’t aim for artistic merit so much as getting your children to respond to what they find.

Catching the worm...

If you are struggling to find birds on your walk, there will be plenty of other wild creatures about, especially if you are prepared to get down on your hands and knees. Insects, spiders, woodlice and snails are known collectively as minibeasts. They are often more popular with young children than with adults, so keep your squeamishness in check on a minibeast hunt.

Most minibeasts like to stay well-hidden, but you can turn young children’s height to advantage. Butterflies, grasshoppers, spiders and ants that all live in grassland are easier to spot if you are closer to the vegetation. Even better, ask your children to turn over gently any logs they find to see what is living underneath in the damp. This gives you the chance to look at the different beasties they may find and you can then talk about why you think they may look the way they do. For example, many minibeasts are flat in shape, which helps them crawl into crevices. Most aren’t very colourful. They live in a dark world where there is no need to stand out. Most are eaten by larger creatures – including common birds such as wrens, robins, blue tits and blackbirds – so they try to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

A bug-box – a clear plastic container with a magnifying lid – will prove a useful addition so your children can look at their creatures in detail without harming them.

The safety spot

The proportion of our wildlife that has the capacity to sting, bite, poison or otherwise cause harm is lower than for almost any country on Earth, except perhaps Iceland. Even so, there is the rare possibility of allergic reactions to stings, and it makes good sense to wash with soap and water after any contact with minibeasts.
It’s much more likely that young children will harm wild creatures rather than themselves. Always make sure that any minibeasts are released exactly where they were caught – preferably under the same log – and take care to make sure that they are not squashed by sheer enthusiasm.

Taking it further

The RSPB has over a million members, including 160,000 under the age of 18. At least 30,000 of those are under eight years old, and we have a special magazine, Wild Times, just for them. We also have a range of education resources for early years practitioners. These include a counting frieze of garden birds, activity guides and web pages for children. Find out more about these by visiting www.rspb.org.uk/youth or by e-mailing This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it at the RSPB.