Red Birds of Love

Cardinal Craft

“Chip.  Chip.  Chip.”  It’s that time of year again.  Our local Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) are busily building nests!  At my house, there is a pair living right outside my bedroom window alerting everyone within ear shot of their concerns with their “chip” alarm calls.  This monogamous pair is nesting in my bushes where they have nested for several years now.  The end of January and beginning of February are the start of their breeding season in Florida, which will last throughout the summer and into fall as they produce two to four clutches of eggs each year.

They, as well as other local cardinals, are also common visitors to my bird feeder throughout the day.  If you live in the central to eastern half of North America, you probably have cardinals visiting your feeders as well.  This, along with being easily identified, makes them a great introductory bird for young bird watchers.  And since it’s Valentine’s weekend, we’re all about the courting behaviors and loving families. 

Female Cardinal at Our Bird Feeder

My daughter and I have started watching our cardinal family visiting the bird feeder.  It’s a great opportunity to teach her how to be quiet and still, since she is rewarded for those behaviors with more frequent visits from the birds.  She’s also learning that whispering is a better way to talk to me when watching wildlife.  Besides the “chip” call, cardinals also have a variety of other songs that we listen to from a distance while waiting for birds to come to our feeder.  I have the iBirds Plus app for my iPod which we use to help identify bird songs.  And soon, we will see the parent birds bringing their young to the bird feeder, so we can watch how the mommy and daddy birds take care of their babies.  It really is a great time of year to start teaching your little bird watchers!

For fun, we made a cardinal craft out of a red paper plate and red paper napkins.  I love using supplies I already have at home for crafts, and I just happened to have red party plates and red napkins left over from a party.  But if you don’t have those, you can always paint any paper plate red that you already have and use red construction paper.  You’ll also need black paint or black markers, a small piece of scrap yellow or orange pipe cleaner for the beak, and tape.  

Here’s what we did:

Folding the Tail Diagonally

1. Fold the red paper plate in half.
2. Take a square of red paper and fold it diagonally, accordion-style (Folding accordion-style was a new concept for my almost three-year-old, so we took a little time to practice this new way of folding.  It’s a great dexterity activity for this age-group.).  Then fold it in half.  This is the tail of the bird. 
3. Tape the tail to one end of the paper plate under the fold of the plate.
4. Take two more squares of red paper and fold them accordion-style, length-wise.  These will be the wings.
5. Fold the wings in half so the accordion fold fans out on one end.  Tape the other end of the wings to each side of the folded paper plate so that the fan of each wing opens toward the tail end.
6. Take the black marker or black paint and make the eyes and black mask on the face of the cardinal (opposite end from the tail).
7. Fold the scrap of orange or yellow pipe cleaner in half so that it is between a half inch and an inch long.  Tape the pipe cleaner under the paper plate fold at the head end.

Folding Paper Accordion-Style

More Practice Folding

Have a happy Valentine's Day!

Cardinal Craft