During our winter theme activities we always like to learn more about animals that live in cold weather climates. We also like to tie in art whenever we can. For an arctic animal theme we learned a bit more about snowy owls. Then we did this simple snowy owl winter craft. It’s a fun way to recap and discuss the facts we learned along the way.
FIND A FULL WEEK OF ARCTIC THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE LESSON PLANS
FOR HOME PRESCHOOL AND PRESCHOOL CLASSROOMS.
Before starting this art project it’s helpful to read a bit about snowy owls. Explore a couple of nonfiction books to learn some facts, and share some stories together too. A few of our favorite snowy owl picks are below.
Quick Video Tutorial for Snowy Owl Art Project
Make Your Own Snowy Owl Craft
For this art project you’ll only need some basic craft supplies and a shower loofah (Handy tip: Keep a couple loofahs in our craft stash for project like these). Start this project by having kids use the loofah to stamp paint an owl body on black construction paper using white tempera paint.
While the paint dries have kids make the additional features for the art project. This is a great time to look back at your nonfiction books (or images online if you don’t have books) to let your child identify the key features you want to add.
We used brown construction paper and did a free cutting activity to make branches for the owl to stand on. Encourage kids to create their own design. There is no “right” way here, so help them embrace it…even the little perfectionists in the bunch!
In art class my youngest has been learning about adding texture to her artwork, so she decided to crumple the brown paper. It was a great addition!
She traced bottle caps to make the shapes for the eyes. Let your kids choose which caps (or similar objects) to trace. It is a helpful way to discuss size and ordering by size. Cutting circles can be tricky for little hands, but let your kids try their best…imperfection is what makes kid art amazing!
Here my little one also had some extra input. Thanks to Art Hub for Kids she loves adding cartoon eyes to her creations lately. She used a hole puncher to punch little white circles to add to the eyes.
Then she cut out a black triangle nose.
And she finished up with black feet. This was by far the most challenging thing for her to cut out, so little ones may ask for a little help along the way.
When you’re done hang your snowy owl craft on display or add it to a book of winter art projects. Older children can even write a story to go along with their creations or list some facts they learned about snowy owls.
Snowy Owl Winter Craft
Equipment
- Child-Safe Scissors
Materials
- Shower Loofah
- White Tempera Paint
- Construction Paper Brown, Black, and Yellow
- Glue
- Bottle Caps Optional, for tracing
Instructions
- Use the loofah to stamp paint an owl body on black construction paper using white tempera paint. Let dry.
- Use the brown construction paper as a free cutting activity to make branches for the owl to stand on.
- Cut out yellow circles for eyes, and smaller black circles for pupils. You can use the bottle caps to trace a circle to cut, or let your kids freehand it!
- Cut out a black triangle nose and black feet.
- Glue all the pieces of your owl onto the white painted paper from earlier.
- Done! Hang your snowy owl craft on display!
Notes
MORE ARCTIC FUN WITH PRINTABLE ARCTIC THEME LESSON PLANS
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
GET YOUR LESSON PLANS
Home Preschool Arctic Theme Lesson Plans
Preschool Classroom Arctic Theme Lesson Plans
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Laura
I will be having my three and five-year-old grandchildren visit me for several days, and this craft caught my eye as something fun to do with them while they visit Mimi. This would be perfect for vacation Bible school as well. I’ve never thought about using a loofah to paint with. Such a cute craft!
Shaunna Evans
So glad you stumbled upon this project. Loofahs can be fun for a variety of projects. I hope your grandchildren love testing them out. My mom is also “Mimi” to my girls. 🙂
Roshelle
Great activity. I love the way you explained and details the activity.
Carrie
Peggy, I think what Shauna is saying is that there are times when there is NO sunlight at all- regardless of what time it is. So a black background is appropriate.
Try to enjoy the project and not be so critical.
Peggy
This is an adorable project especially since they live near the north pole -santa (and other northern locations). However, this is a diurnal animal who is active in the daytime so the use of black background is misleading. Just read up on these interesting animals.
Shaunna Evans
Thanks for the suggestion, Peggy. Personally I chose black because I like the contrast, but any variation of blue, gray or black would be wonderful….even a pop of color for fun.
Factually it may also be worth noting that if you want to be fully accurate you’d want to consider the time of year and where the Snowy Owl is. In the Arctic Circle there are times of year when there is 24 hours of darkness (December to March) and times of year when there is 24 hours of sunlight. These would definitely be fun facts to incorporate into your discussion and the art project itself. Thanks again!
Peggy
Read up on snowy owls. This is one group of owls that are diurnal NOT nocturnal. Therefore, they are active in the daytime. Use dark/ light blue background. Black paper is misleading….just a suggestion🙂
Jane Amiotte
This was a hit and one of my new favorite crafts to share.
Shaunna
Jane,
I am so happy to hear that! Thank you for the feedback.
Regards,
Shaunna