Peterson Field Guides for Young Naturalists

What would the world be without birds? Birds are a favorite subject for young children as they spy birds in their yards and at near-by parks. Nurturing a love of birds is easy when you have one or two of Peterson Field Guides for Young Naturalists on hand. These compact field guides are beautifully illustrated and feature many of the birds you can find right outside your own window. They are enjoyable to page through and you will find yourself sharing these books over and over with your family.

This post contains affiliate links to books we love and use in our family.

Use them as part of a simple nature study course or alongside your biology or flying creatures study. These are the sorts of books that will help build a library of reference materials for the years to come.

Learning More About Your Backyard Birds

I highly recommend the Backyard Birds edition of this series for all families. It includes many of the birds you are most likely to see in North America. The over-sized pages feature birds grouped by color: red, blue, yellow, green, brown, black, black and white, and gray. Do you know where to look for American Robins? How about what a House Finch eats? Do you know what a House Wren sounds like? Each bird is described in detail with interesting kid-friendly format.

Looking at Shorebirds

Another book in this series features Shorebirds. This book is organized by where you will find each bird: on the water, on the ground, or in the grass. These are birds you will see at local ponds and at the shores of lakes and the ocean. You will find tips for watching shore birds and each bird features instructive illustrations and diagrams.

Awesome Birds to Get to Know

The Birds of Prey edition of the Peterson Field Guides for Young Naturalists is my son’s favorite book in this series. It will nurture a love and admiration for these awesome birds. Some of the birds featured in the book are the Bald Eagle, the Osprey, the American Kestrel, and the Great Horned Owl. Each bird is beautifully illustrated with field marks prominently displayed along with interesting facts and information.

Love for the Bizarre

Bizarre Birds is one more in the series and will fascinate your children by introducing them to twenty different birds. Each bird is introduced with a short narrative section along with illustrations and interesting facts. Many of these birds are not ones we see everyday but as your child learns about them they can make it a goal to someday see them in their natural habitat.

Listen to the Birds

The Songbirds edition of this series features twenty common songbirds of North America. I love learning to recognize birds by their song and this field guide will help your child learn to identify these songbirds by their song. Organized by song type: simple, whistling, warbling, trilling, name-saying, and mimics. I know that your family will really enjoy learning fun facts about each of these birds using this Peterson Field Guide for Young Naturalists.

I created a series of nature study challenges featuring each of the birds in the Backyard Bird edition of this series. You can find it on my Handbook of Nature Study blog:

• Red Birds – Robins, Cardinals, House Finches
• Blue Birds – Jays and Bluebirds
• Yellow Birds – Goldfinches and Meadowlarks
• Hummingbirds (green birds) – Flight
• Brown Birds – House Sparrows, House Wrens, and mourning Doves
• Black Birds – Crow, Red-Winged Blackbird, Starling, and Cowbird
• Black and White Birds – Woodpecker, Chickadee, Nuthatch, Towhee
• Gray Birds – Pigeon and Mockingbird

Written by Barb-Harmony Art Mom. I also blog at Harmony Art Mom and my business is found at Harmony Fine Arts. I would love for you to join us for the Outdoor Hour Challenges at Handbook of Nature Study.

-originally published 2014

Barb (47 Posts)

Barb McCoy- Harmony Art Mom writes about homeschooling their teens on her blog Harmony Art Mom. and taking family outdoor adventures on her other blog, Handbook of Nature Study. She is the author and host for the Outdoor Hour Challenge and a series of ebooks helping families get started with simple nature study. Barb also founded Harmony Fine Arts which helps homeschoolers with their art and music appreciation.