When you give a kid a camera for his birthday...

He might decide to organize his siblings into a team of spies. They might follow you around for days taking sneaky pictures while you sit reading a book on the sofa and write pages and pages of observations as they sit on the deck and observe you through the living room window.

While they're out on the deck bored because the life of a stay-at-home mother is not particularly interesting, they might start watching the wildlife in the yard instead. This might inspire them to begin a nature study. They might take photographs and draw pictures of the birds they see.

Seeing the birds in the yard may lead them to wonder what kind of birds you have in your yard. You might have to sit at the computer with them and help them look it up.

Throughout the afternoon, you might hear the kids out in the yard imitating the bird sounds they are hearing and conversing with the birds.

You just never know how one thing might lead to another.....

(Inspired by Laura Joffe Numeroff's "If You Give...." series)