Owl Babies by Martin Waddel was one of our favorite books. We empathized with the way Sarah, Percy and Bill felt when their mom was gone. They tried really hard to be brave and take care of one another.
We had owls' nests in which to play. Just like the nest in the book, they had twigs, leaves and feathers in them. We had fun pretending to be owls and adding leaves and twigs to the nests.
Our table game this week was "Give a Hoot". We had to follow the colorful trail with our owls and try to get them to their nest before the sun came up. When an owl made it to its nest, we had to give a "hoot". It was a cooperative game- we all had to work together to get the owls to their nest. We had fun playing again and again and making up our own rules.
Our sensory bins were filled with leaves, owl nests and some little crocheted owls. It was a favorite place to play throughout the week.
We learned a lot about owls by reading a Gail Gibbons' book about them.
We used colored glue and feathers to design owl masks.
Whoo, whoo, who are you?
We had to check them out in the mirror when they were dry!
Owls have really good eyesight. We each had a pair of binoculars to help us see just like owls. Then, we went on a hunt for mice- a barn owl’s favorite food.
Owls have amazing hearing as well. We played a game called "Squeak!".
We took turns being the owl. The "owl" sat in the middle of the circle and closed his/her eyes. The rest of us put our hands behind our back. One of us was given a squeaky mouse. The "owl" had to listen for the squeak and guess who was the mouse just by listening. Real owls can hear a mouse squeaking from a long distance away!
Lazy Ozzie by Michael Coleman about an owl that was too lazy to fly but very, very wise as they say all owls are.
Owls are known for their good memory (owls think a lot!). We played a memory game called "Kim’s Game" where we had to remember a group of items, and then figure out which one was missing when one was taken away.
An owl’s body is covered with feathers. In the book, Sleepy Owl by Marcus Pfister, the illustrator gave the owls colorful feathers.
At the easel, we painted with owl feathers.
We read an all time favorite, Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. It reinforced that owls are nocturnal creatures. They sleep during the day and hunt at night.
Since we can't go "owling" during the day, we took a look at some owl pellets found under an owl's nest. Owls eat small prey whole- bones, fur, and all. The parts that can’t be used for food are packed together into pellets- small, rather hard, rounded objects. Then, they regurgitate the pellets. We had pellets in a bag to look at through magnifying glasses. It was kind of like "I Spy". We looked carefully to see what the owl had eaten.
We absolutely loved learning about the world of owls!
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