Hobbies And Interests
Bird Watching
Binoculars come in handy when taking a close look at feathered friends in the outdoors. Kids can even do this inside on a snowy or rainy day. They can challenge their friends to see who can find the most birds within five minutes. With a simple bird identification book, children can spot and distinguish the different varieties of birds in their own backyard.
Astronomy
An inexpensive pair of binoculars allows kids to view the moon, constellations and even Jupiter's four largest moons̵2;Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa. Kids can play a name game to come up with as many names as they can related to the planets, such as Galileo, who discovered Jupiter's moons in the early 17th century. Through binoculars, planets and moons look like stars, but with a little help from an astronomical chart, children can identify their discoveries.
Exploring
Dora the Explorer is one of the most popular cartoon characters. By donning a khaki safari outfit and a pair of binoculars, children can recreate the discovery of new lands just like Dora, Magellan or Christopher Columbus. Children can compete with each other to collect as many different leaves as they can or record all the animals they spotted in a journal. Once home, they can use books or the Internet to research what they saw on their excursion.
Homemade Binoculars
For a rainy day project, homemade binoculars are a captivating way to keep kids occupied. Cover two tubes of toilet paper rolls with craft glue and colorful construction paper. Staple the toilet paper tubes together, side by side, at both ends. Staple a string to the toilet paper tubes on each side for a neck strap. Once finished preparing the binoculars, imagination takes over as children make their in-home discoveries. Award a prize to the child who comes up with the most creative discovery.