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A Piece of Chiot’s Run

October 10th, 2013

Our nieces and nephew were planning on visiting this week, but the trip got cancelled for a few different reasons.  Since they can’t make it up to Maine, we decided to send them a fun activity.  Over the past few months I’ve been gathering feathers as I find them in the gardens.  Most of them are from our birds, the ducks, guineas, and chickens.  There are, however, a few wild turkey feathers in there as well.
bird and feather match game 2
I put all the feathers in a bag and made a poster with photos of all the different birds the feathers came from. The kids will are supposed to try to match the feather to the bird it came from.  Some will be easy, like the polka dot pearl guinea feathers and the big wild turkey feathers, but others will be more difficult.  There are about 50 feathers in the envelope.
bird and feather match game 1
Hopefully they will have fun with this activity. I remember that I loved collected feathers when I was a little girl, hopefully they enjoy this collection as much as I enjoyed mine.

Did you ever collect feathers as a kid?

13 Comments to “A Piece of Chiot’s Run”
  1. Lemongrass on October 10, 2013 at 5:32 am

    That is a fun activity of kids. I too remembered growing up with lots of feathers around. We had enough to make our pillows(10) and to play with. I still collect them to use around the house…………feather duster.

    Reply to Lemongrass's comment

  2. Adriana on October 10, 2013 at 7:05 am

    Still do! and so do my kids.

    Reply to Adriana's comment

  3. Kit Duffield on October 10, 2013 at 7:38 am

    Hi,
    Wild birds can have all sorts of tiny bugs on them. Kids like to put feathers in their hair. So, Put the feathers in a bag and toss them in your freezer for 24 hours first. Also if there are pet birds in the house be very careful about bringing in wild bird feathers. My friend got her parakeets very sick by bringing into her house a barn coat that had been left in the barn a week, near where the barn swallows were living.

    Kit Duffield

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  4. amy on October 10, 2013 at 8:30 am

    You are such a marvelous aunt! What a creative thing to do :) I homeschool my son and that is a great idea…I still collect feathers….As a matter of fact last week we were on the isle of palms and in addition to shell collecting on my walks….feather collecting was in order as well :) They now are stashed with all my others….along with my collection of nests…and eggs….

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  5. Nebraska Dave on October 10, 2013 at 8:34 am

    Susy, nah, no feathers when I was a kid. All we had was chickens and pigeons for feathers. We would find a rotten egg occasionally which was great fun to heave far away and see it explode. Collecting feathers was far from my mind when I was climbing trees, falling in a barrel of oil, stuff my Dad’s watch down a rat hole, or jumping into a fresh dug toilet hole. Yes, I was indeed a curious hand full and my parents should have been given a medal. I learned to drive a tractor at the age of four by coasting it down a hill right into a tree. Well, gee I couldn’t get it stopped because my legs weren’t long enough to reach the brakes. Now does that sound like a young lad that would be interested in collecting feathers? No that wasn’t even on the radar. :0)

    Have a great feather collecting day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  6. Wendy on October 10, 2013 at 8:39 am

    Bummer that the trip got cancelled :(. Hope they get to reschedule. I’m sure they will love the feather challenge–great idea! That first photo is beautiful!

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  7. Jennifer Fisk on October 10, 2013 at 8:54 am

    When I was a kid, over 60 years ago, I had a feather and a skeleton collection. I spent my days in the woods with my German Shepherd. Funny thing, I do the same now.

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

  8. Becky on October 10, 2013 at 9:06 am

    My grandma’s neighbor kept peacocks, so I had quite a collection from their feathers, chickens, pheasants and wild birds at the house.

    Reply to Becky's comment

  9. Felicakes on October 10, 2013 at 10:39 am

    I still do actually. I found a really good one of a peacock once and it’s still sitting proudly on my shelf.

    Reply to Felicakes's comment

  10. Sam on October 10, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    Absolutely! And I still love them. Right now I’m putting together a collection of them for a shadowbox. The bits and pieces of nature that I find and really look at always fascinate me. So easy to take all that detail for granted!

    I’m sure your nieces and nephew will have great fun with your challenge! You are a sweet aunt to put it together for them!

    Reply to Sam's comment

  11. Heidi on October 10, 2013 at 1:46 pm

    If there is a feather on the ground, I pick it up. I have a vase full on my piano. I even have have a tiny green jeweled hummingbird feather. I keep that one in my jewelry box. :) Feathers are great additions to fall flower arrangements.

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  12. BJ on October 10, 2013 at 2:07 pm

    What a great idea! Tanner and Abby love collecting feather too :)

    Reply to BJ's comment

  13. Wendy on October 10, 2013 at 6:17 pm

    Yes, too bad we can’t visit this week!! :( The kids will love the activity – I won’t tell them it’s coming!!

    ~W~

    Reply to Wendy's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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