the cutest owls you've ever seen!

At Christmastime I saw these fabulous felt owls on That Artist Woman's Blog. I swore to myself that we'd make some owls...and then..well, time got away from me and missed that opportunity!

Fast forward to January--second graders do a HUGE unit on Audubon in Science and most of the time I piggy-back on their lessons. This year I wanted to do something super-fun for them and decided it was time to rock the owls! The prep for this project is not toooo bad (it's half origami, half drawing) but there are quite a few pieces involved.

You will need:
1 5" or 6" circle tracer for each child
4 colored pieces of paper for each child (I used 6"x9")
1 large 12x18 sheet of black paper
4 strips of scrapbooking paper (appx. 1.5"x4")
various pieces for beaks and eyes
feathers (optional)

I had each student make 4 owls. This way they could pick out their "favorite" three to use on the project. This works out well because inevitably a second grader will ruin one of them and will cry!
This project took two days, using the following steps:
Trace and cut out 4 5" or 6" circles on bright paper (you could use browns, whites, and grays, I suppose as well!). Glue the scrapbook paper on (put only a dot on the very bottom of the strip, the part that is closest to the bottom of the circle--this is VERY important!)

Fold the top of the circle down, right above the scrapbook paper. You will actually fold the flap over the scrapbook paper.

Fold in the "wings" diagonally---from the bottom corners of the scrapbook paper to the corners of the top flap.

Pull your scrapbook paper through the fold(s) and glue it to the front of the top flap. Glue the wings down and the top flap down as well!

Add layered eyes, beaks, and feathers! *(Note: to make the eyes out of layered papers, start with the black circle first. Glue the black circle onto the white paper, cut out the white paper, and glue the white onto a colorful piece of paper! This insures that your eyes are layered and EVEN!)

Use oil pastel (or paint?!) to create a branch for your owl family to sit on. Glue the owls down and you've got a beautiful mixed-media work of art!

*My second graders are finishing these this week. This is MY example, I will be sure to post a second-grade gallery of owls later this week!