Owl Storytime

There are so many wonderful owl books out there, I had to include the feathery theme when planning my winter storytimes.  One of my favorites is A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na.   There isn't much text, but that very fact plus the gorgeous, dream-like illustrations make it a perfect bedtime (or last book of storytime) read.

Another book I really wanted to include is Bear's New Friend by Karma Wilson.  Even though it takes place in spring, it's a nice introduction to owls with a fun repeating "Who" the kids can join in on.  In addition, it taught me that there are "burrowing owls" - something I never knew before!  Gotta love it when you learn something from a book!

The other two books I included were  Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton (already reviewed on this site) and Cock-A-Doodle-Hooooooo! by Mick Manning.  Manning's book is a hoot (pardon the pun)!  Kids love the cartoon like illustrations and the humorous story of an owl trying to find happiness in a hen house.  Yes, this is a children's book :) 

A couple other older books that definitely should be included in any owl storytime are:

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (A Caldecott winner!)
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

Now time for a song!   This is a fun song to sing and the actions will have your kids acting like owls for sure... the tune is to "The Wheels on the Bus":

Just Like an Owl

Flap your wings and fly around, fly around, fly around.
Flap your wings and fly around, just like an owl.
Open your eyes big and wide, big and wide, big and wide.
Open your eyes big and wide, just like an owl.
Land on the ground and hop along, hop along, hop along.
Land on the ground and hop along, just like an owl.
Turn your head and say "Hoo! Hoo!"
Say "Hoo! Hoo!"
Say "Hoo! Hoo!"
Turn your head and say "Hoo! Hoo" just like an owl.

Words by Joe Stover

And lastly, it's craft time!!!   Last fall I picked up an "Owl Frame Kit" with self adhesive foam pieces and thought "wow - this will be great".  It was 75% off in an end-of-season bin, so I really can't complain, it isn't however a "picture frame".  I suppose you could stick on a photo if you really wanted, but there isn't a whole lot of space.  In any case, the owls turned out really cute.  I included self adhesive magnets so the finished owls could be displayed on fridge and left out my tub of google eyes in case they wanted to use them (yes, they did). 

I also played around with some construction paper to see if I could easily create a cheap paper owl, and look at the results!   (bottom picture).  I cut out two wings and a basic body shape with ears; added a couple of google eyes, and there ya go!  An Owl!   Attach a magnet and he would look great on a fridge, or if you have a magnet AND an old cloths pin (the pinching kind), then he would make a great fridge note holder!   Use a variety of paper for a wonderful owly display.