Book-Inspired Preschool Owl Craft

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for another #PLAYfulpreschool theme! Thus far, we’ve delved into apples, family, farm, harvest, and fall colors. This week the focus is on nighttime, which led to my nocturnal preschool owl craft.

It started, as it often does, with a book! In this case, it was Little Owl’s Night by Divya Srinivasan. The book has beautiful illustrations and tells the story of a baby owl’s nighttime forays. Little Owl passes other nocturnal owls, like bats and hedgehogs. The owl also flies over diurnal animals (those that sleep at night and are awake during the day). The book lends itself to a great discussion of nocturnal versus diurnal animals, as well as day versus night.

Based on this book, I came up with two different owls for the kiddos to create. I couldn’t decide which preschool owl craft to share today, so I’m going to explain both!

Feathery preschool owl craft

This owl was inspired by the chick art we made for a previous farm theme.

Materials
Brown tempera paint
Neutral colors of craft feathers
Googly eyes
Orange construction paper

Directions
1. Using a sponge paintbrush, create a brown owl’s body. I just pressed the brush down twice, but some of the preschoolers did a lot more!
2. Once the paint’s dried, add some googly eyes, and a beak made from construction paper.
3. Add feathers! I went with 2 on each side, but my students varied greatly in their feather usage!

Shape preschool owl craft

This owl was inspired by Little Owl from the book, with a focus on learning shapes. It can be done as a guided craft, talking the kiddos through the differently shaped materials. To focus more on the process, give the child all the elements to create the owl and then step back.

Materials
Construction paper – black, green, white, brown, orange
Oil pastels – brown, green, yellow

Directions

1. Cut out the following shapes – 1 brown oval, 1 brown half circle, 6 brown triangles, 2 white circles, 2 green circles, 2 black circles, and 1 orange diamond. I did this free-hand, but children can cut their own out (depending on their scissor skills).
2. Glue the half circle down, then add the oval on top.
3. Glue three of the triangles to the upper right-hand side of the oval. Do the same on the left-hand side.

4. Create the owl’s eyes by gluing the green circles on top of the white circles. Then glue the black circles on top of the green. Affix the eyes to the brown oval.
5. Next up is the orange diamond for the owl’s beak.
6. Add a tree branch and leaves with the oil pastels. Add feet for the owl.

Which preschool owl craft did you like the best? If you’re looking for more owl-y fun, be sure to check out my collection of 24 more! Even better, share some of your favorites in the comments below.

For MORE Playful Preschool Nighttime Activities: