Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Making Shapes into an Owl (Art is a Whoot!)


Have you noticed that owls are everywhere?! They are all over adorable fabrics, being made into sweet felt pillows, and being crafted by little (and big) hands all over the Internet. When I saw Card a la Carte’s little pillow-box owls, I fell in love.

After taking a closer look and purchasing a few fun scrapbooking papers, I was determined to make these with my son on a larger scale. This was a great review of shapes, good practice cutting with scissors, and combined with a non-fiction book, a lesson in one of the most fascinating nocturnal animals.

For information on owls, we read Patricia Whitehouse’s book Barn Owls (What's Awake?). We learned that owls lay eggs, what they eat, where they nest, and that they can turn their heads to see what is behind them (whoa, that’s cool!).


Here’s a list of the shapes we used for each owl:
  • Rectangle – 1 for the body
  • Oval – 2 for each bird (in the same color as the body) for the wings
  • Big circle – 2 for each bird in white for the big curious eyes
  • Triangle – 1 cut from orange cardstock for the beak
  • Heart – 1 cut from orange cardstock for the feet
  • Small circle – 12, depending on the size, in printed scrapbooking paper for the body feathers (one of which you'll need to cut in half), plus 2 in black for the pupils. (We used my  Martha Stewart Punch All Over the Page™ 1 ½-inch circle punch.)

We attached the small circles on the body first with a gluestick, curling up the bottom of each to “fluff the feathers.” Then we added the eyes, wings, feet, and beak.



Let me introduce our new pet owls.


Lastly, my son recorded what he’d learned on an awesome free printable Erin from Eberhart’s Explorers shared on her blog. Visit her site for this amazing “Owls Are/Have/Can” chart.

24 comments:

  1. I LOVE your owls! How simply adorable and the use of all the shapes is genius! Thanks for linking up the printable, it is awesome!

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  2. Thanks for sharing, I really enjoy your site and I think you have the coolest ideas to keep your little one interested in learning. Thanks again.

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  3. I love how this focuses on simple shapes for little kids to work on. Great simple, do-able idea. I did my son's nursery in owls and made a tree bookshelf just for his owl books. http://www.obseussed.com/2011/08/owl-nursery-and-books-inspired-by.html I'll try this craft with my older kids so they can make it for their baby brother. They'll love it.

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  4. What ADORABLE owls! We love all things owly.. and these are CUTE! :-)

    Thanks for linking on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

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  5. Yay! I'm so glad you found it helpful. I stinking love your owls...so cute. My kinders made some (I need to post) but yours are so much cuter. I'll have to pin this for next year.

    Thanks for the "I heart your blog" award, p.s. Blogging about that is on my list of to do's as well! Sheeze!

    I'm your newest follower!
    Erin
    http://eberhartsexplorers.blogspot.com/

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  6. Ha! I just did an O is for Owl out of all O's- Great minds think alike! Those turned out great!

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  7. What a great combination of art with non-fiction book (and a bit of shape review thrown in). Carl and Bob are very cute!

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  8. Oooh!!! Love this craft!!! We're having an owl day next week and I've been looking at different owl crafts to make, and this is the one! Awesome! :)

    Mandi at BBM

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  9. The owls are so cute! The book looks great too.

    Thank you for linking to Read.Explore.Learn.

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  10. Your awesome idea is FEATURED on our Monstrously Creative Saturday! Come grab your button and take a bow! Also, link up some other monstrously creative ideas while you're there! Thanks for being such an inspiration!
    Mandi at BBM

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  11. Love owls, this is so cute. My daughter is 3 and I think she may be ready for these sorts of crafts. I just need to get the paper and we'll be set. (Found you via Link & Learn)

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  12. These are really cute. Will be trying them with my 3 year old also!

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  13. Oh my goodness, these are so cute. I love that they have names! So glad you linked up to the AfterSchool party.

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  14. I had this exact craft on my to do list - great minds think alike! I love how it turned out- this is getting pinned asap. Now off to brainstorm another owl craft ;)

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  15. OMGosh...I ADORE this!! I'm totally going to add this to our craft list.

    Come join us on my new kids activity linky party, Hey Mom, Look What I Did (at Adventures In Mommy Land). We would love to have you!!

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  16. So cute! I would love it if you would link it to my Linky Party if you want to link up at http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-ever-linky-party.html

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  17. So cute! You'll be surprised but I was instantly inspired with an adult version of this. By adult I mean doilies or lace or something for the decorative body. Thanks for linking up at Etcetorize!

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  18. Your blog tagline is the best! It looks like you're succeeding. :) Found you through the Afterschool blog hop.

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  19. I love your owls...they look gorgeous.

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  20. Cute! I love that you included resources too =-) I am starting a Linky Party if you want to link up at http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-ever-linky-party.html

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  21. They look great! We have a few owl books too. Thanks so much for linking up to Fun Sparks.

    Emma @sciencesparks

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  22. Hi there, Carl and Bob are so cute. I bet you had so much fun creating your owls. Thanks for sharing. I have recently found your blog and am now following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Chris

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