Wings Over Willcox

Past Activities for kids at WOW

Nest Box Building & Other Activities:

Volunteers Caleb and Mike drove from Tucson to Willcox Friday morning packing battery-powered screwdrivers and leftover outdoor paint and brushes donated by Tucson Audubon. Between noon and 4:00, they had helped over 30 children and families put together and paint 30 of the 50 nest boxes! Most of the families/students were from the local Willcox area. Information on which birds utilize the boxes and care for them was also handed out.

Scenes from previous WOW Kids activities
kids

Activities for the Kids:

Seven Lauffer Middle School students, all from the Sunnyside School District in Tucson, and I joined Caleb at the youth event table on Saturday morning. We brought along additional activities from our SASUN Club (Sunnyside-Audubon Student Urban Naturalists). These included making recycled bird feeders out of toilet paper rolls/peanut butter/bird seed; making feeders out of pine cones/peanut butter/bird seed; drawing/coloring a favorite bird from various common bird photos and labeling the bird's anatomy; and playing a bird matching game where paying attention to field marks was a necessity. By 1:00 the remaining 20 nest boxes were gone! All of the toilet paper rolls and pine cones were gone by 3:30! Most families I spoke with were from the local area, several returning with stories of successful nests in the boxes from previous years and hoping for another box. Many parents wanted to give a donation for the box. I was impressed with how many local families were involved with the festival and how appreciative they were for the youth actitivies available. We had youth from ages 2-18 visit our table, making nest boxes, playing our games, and getting involved in our activities. Very successful!

Our seven students thoroughly enjoyed sharing activities with the children at the festival. They were thrilled to have name tags and t-shirts provided! All the students attended the seminar on bats on Saturday afternoon when the crowd slowed down. After the festival, we headed to the lakes to view incoming sandhill cranes, a first for the amazed students. A Pizza Hut appreciation dinner followed our birdwatching and then it was back to Tucson after a 13 hour day!

The festival was a fabulous opportunity for our naturalist group of students to share their leadership and birding skills with the public. We would love to participate in the festival next year, adding a few additional activities and games for children. Thank you once again for giving our students the opportunity to share their knowledge and leadership skills at WOW! We look forward to returning next year.

Sincerely, Deb Vath