owls

Valentine’s Day Owl Craft

February 10, 2024 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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Here’s a cute Valentine’s Day owl craft that doubles as a fun card to give to someone you love on February 14. It can be made entirely from paper or embellished with a few more supplies. Download the free template to make craft preparation easy.

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Follow me on Pinterest for more early learning ideas.

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Supplies To Collect

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Gather the following supplies for this sweet owl-themed Valentine’s Day craft:

various colors cardstock or construction paper
8 ½-inch x 11-inch white cardstock paper
wiggly eyes
eyelash stickers
thin felt pen
scissors and pencil
glue stick

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The Valentine’s Day Owl Craft

This owl-dorable Valentine’s Day craft is so easy to make. The first thing to do is pick a few different colors of cardstock or construction paper to use.

Then, download this template and use it to cut out the owl’s body, wings, beak, and feet. Pick different colors of paper for the task.

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Get the free printable:

Valentine’s Day Owl Craft PrintableDownload

This printable is for individual or one classroom use only.

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Next, use a glue stick to affix the body onto a neutral-colored sheet of 8 ½ inch x 11-inch cardstock paper.

Afterward, cut out a paper heart and glue it in the center of the body.

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Then glue a wing on either side, positioning each one to touch the edge of the heart.

Glue on two small hearts on the bottom of the body to serve as feet.

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Then add two eyelash stickers or wiggly eyes to the head, and glue a paper beak. Or draw in the eyes with a thin felt marker or pencil.

Finally, add the words “You Have My Hoot” to the top of the picture using the art medium of your choice.

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The owl-themed saying on this craft can be varied. Below, the Valentine’s message is “You Hoot a Song in My Heart,” and the large heart is cut from musical note-themed scrapbook paper.

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The Valentine’s Day Owl Craft Simplified

For a simple classroom or home-based activity, print the free owl craft template below onto copy paper. Give a template to each child participating in the craft. Invite participants to color each owl body part with crayons or pencil crayons, and cut the parts out. Then have them glue the colored shapes to a cardstock background to create the Valentine’s Day owl craft. Finally, have everyone draw eyelashes or eyes on their bird and add the words “You Have My Hoot” with a felt pen or pencil.

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Get the free printable:

Valentine’s Day Owl Craft Printable 2Download

This printable is for individual or one classroom use only.

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More Valentine’s Day Crafts

Origami Heart Valentines

Woolly Sheep Valentine’s Day Craft

Dinosaur Valentine Craft

Heart Doily Gnome Valentines

Ladybug Wand Craft

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[Read more…]

Snowy Owl Sensory Bin

January 13, 2024 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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This snowy owl sensory bin is a fun way to teach about predators and prey and can be set up in minutes. There are plenty of mice in the hide-and-seek bin, but there’s nothing to be afraid of in this winter play invitation.

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Follow me on Pinterest for more early learning ideas.

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Snowy Owls and Mice

Snowy owls live in polar regions, but some make their way further south. The majestic birds have excellent vision and exceptional hearing ability and can detect mice and other rodents traveling through tunnels beneath snow in winter. Hunting by day or night, they can dive through the snow, grab a mouse with their talons, and then swallow it whole.

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Snowy Owl Sensory Bin Supplies

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Just a few supplies are in this cheeky snowy owl sensory bin:

cotton balls
paper towel rolls
toy mice
owl figurine
rocks
small logs

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The Snowy Owl Sensory Bin

A round saucer sled works well as a bin for this winter white sensory activity. It is big enough to hold a variety of supplies, but small enough to be easy to fill.

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A large snowy owl figurine is the main character in the bin. A stuffed animal owl would be an awesome alternative.

Cotton balls spread out in the bin represent snow.

Paper towel rolls cut to shorter lengths or left whole serve as tunnels. The paper rolls signify how mice dig tunnels in the snow and travel through them to find food on the ground to eat during the snowy months. The scurrying mice also use them to get to their underground burrows.

Mice come in a variety of colors, such as white, brown, or grey. In this sensory setup, steel grey rubber mice are the snowy owl prey.

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Many snowy owls live far north above the tree line and never see a tree during their lifetime. Some snowy owls venture further south, still choosing open areas to live in. Perched on a high vantage post such as a tree or fencepost, they scan the surrounding area for prey such as mice to eat. Thus a few rocks and logs are added to this second sensory bin.

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Snowy Owl Sensory Bin Learning Opportunities

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This snowy owl sensory bin play invitation is perfect for learning facts about snowy owls and mice, and learning about predators and prey. Discussing hard and soft, long and short, and heavy and light items facilitates language. Practice in counting mice and developing eye-hand coordination when taking mice in and out of their tunnels are other educational benefits.

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More Polar Animal Activities

Winter-themed Treasure Blocks

Igloo Camping Pretend Play

Polar Bear Small World

Winter Sensory Trays

Winter Wreath Paper Plate Craft

Scissor Skill Snow Cutting Activities

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[Read more…]

Book Inspired Tree Art

August 14, 2018 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Tree Art inspired by the storybook "Wow! Said The Owl" by Tim Hopgood. Papercraft art using a variety of colors and textures.

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Inspiration For The Tree Art

Trees are a popular art theme, and I love using tree art in a mosaic pattern on a bulletin board display.

Over the years I’ve done a few tree displays celebrating our four Alberta seasons. This year I chose an art project based on the storybook “Wow! Said The Owl” by Tim Hopgood. In the story, an owl stays up past his bedtime one summer night and notices the beautiful colors of early morning, midday, and dusk. The owl loves all the color schemes but decides the night colors are still the best. As I read the story, I was saying “Wow” right along with the owl, because the illustrations featuring the owl and tree throughout the day are gorgeous!

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Follow me on Pinterest for more early learning ideas.

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Art Set-Up

Paper supplies to make the tree art pictures. An all-ages book inspired art activity.

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Based on the colors in the book, I used heart-themed paper punches to cut a variety of leaves. I used circle paper punches for the sun and moon. Butterfly paper punches came in handy for the midday pictures. A sticker owl was available to complete each picture.

For the art project, I used four different blue shades of 9 x 12 fade-resistant paper. This size displays perfectly as a mosaic pattern on a feature bulletin board I have access to. I cut tree trunks in different shades of brown and glued one on each piece of blue paper.

Then children got a little bag with shapes to create a tree scene. Paper pieces were attached with a glue stick. Some children questioned why we were using heart shapes for the leaves, so I showed them heart-shaped leaves from real plants.

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Tree Art Themes

Children completed at least two of the following projects.

Sunrise paper craft tree inspired by the storybook "Wow! Said The Owl" by Tim Hopgood.

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Mid day paper craft tree inspired by the storybook 'Wow! said The Owl' by Tim Hopgood.

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Sunset paper craft tree inspired by the storybook "Wow! Said The Owl" by Tim Hopgood.

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Nighttime paper craft tree inspired by the storybook 'Wow! Said The Owl' by Tim Hopgood.

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Some of the completed pictures were saved for each child’s memory album; others were saved for the bulletin board display.

Tree art projects arranged in a mosaic pattern on a bulletin board.

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A second bulletin board idea…

Tree art bulletin board idea inspired by the storybook "Wow! said The Owl" by Tim Hopgood.

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Tree art depicting the seasons of winter, spring, summer, and fall is always a stunner. And it is easy to display on a bulletin board for parents and children to admire.

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[Read more…]