What a fun evening! My youngest wanted to play Hedbanz and my 11 yo had a stack of cards from an Indiana Young Birders Club quiz at the Indiana Dunes Birding Festival nearby. The Shopkins Hedbanz version is even cheaper right now. We thought, why not combine them. At first, we were going to use laminated bird pictures I have (which could be done), but the uniform size of these Discover Birds of America playing cards worked really well. The Sibley Flash Cards or Professor Noggin cards would also work. Bird Bingo would also give some selection as well. We played "sevens," naming the birds as we put our cards down after. We know the scientific name of an anhinga is anhinga anhinga as a result of kids interacting, too!
We play twenty questions a fair amount so are used to asking yes/no questions, often starting with more general questions and moving to more specific questions. It seems like we started asking these types of categories:
- Type of bird--backyard, feeder, aquatic, bird of prey, woodpecker, warbler, etc.
- Habitat--where would we find the bird
- Size--sparrow sized, robing sized, duck size, Canada goose size or larger
- Color--red, black, yellow, etc.
- Food preferences--fish, berries, bird seed
- Behaviors--perch in tree, in the water, wading, etc.
- Type of feet or beak
I almost felt like we were going through the questions in the Merlin Bird ID app. :-)
Honestly, this could work with any nature topic--trees, leaves, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, animals in general, etc. We had a lot of fun and am sure we will play it again soon! How might you use Hedbanz to learn more about nature? What games do you enjoy about nature?
We like nature and games! Here is a link to other nature related games we've enjoyed. Find a podcast about beginning birding and other resources here.
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