Owl craftivity

I've noticed that my kiddos love doing craft and colouring projects.  And I love combining craft projects with a writing or math activity.  Yay for craftivities!  They make me happy because there's some academic content and the kids are excited to be cutting, gluing, colouring, etc. 

I've used various projects that I found on TpT or Pinterest, but I recently thought, "AHA!  I could make these up myself."  So I tried it.  And it worked. Being no artist (if you don't believe me see the testimonial by clicking on the "About Me" tab at the top of the post....) I used shapes from Word and they worked just fine!

We worked on making this AMAZING (to me, anyway!!) owl project yesterday morning and afternoon (not all morning and afternoon!......they took about an hour for my 2's and 3's to get them all done). 

We did the clues during Math and the owls after lunch when the kids are feeling kind of stir crazy. I showed the class how the final project will look during our morning lesson and get them to do the written part of their project before noon when they're more focused.  They could talk quietly while they cut and glue.  (I put some quiet music on while they were working which  kept the voice levels lower).
I was going to get them to make up an owl poem to glue on the owls, but decided to go with a mystery number under a flap instead.
They had to make up 5 clues.  We've been working on numeracy so they had to choose a 2 digit mystery number for under their flap.  The clues had to be:
1.  I have a ___ in my 10's place.
2.  I am > ____ (the number 3 before).
3.  I am < ____ (the number 3 after).
4.  I am odd/even.
5.  I am ____ + 10
(One sharp fellow came to me to protest that everyone would know the mystery number when they read the last clue!)

The kids were pumped about them and I think they turned out great.  I gave them the choice of cutting and gluing the eyes and beaks that I made in the kit, or drawing their own.  I like the way they added their own artistic touches to personalize their owls. 
I originally thought I would photocopy all the owls on brown construction paper.  But I decided it would be fun to let the kids choose, so I put out a sign up list and they selected their own colours.

If you'd like to try out this fun activity in your room CLICK HERE to see it at TpT.

We looked at this book before we started our work and the kids noticed the ear tufts and big eyes and banded feathers. 

We also started to read one of my favourite all-time novels, Owls in the Family, by Canadian author Farley Mowat.  Although this book is an oldie (written in 1962) it is timeless, and the kids are fascinated by the story.  There are so many hilarious parts (like where his friend puts eggs from a crow's nest in his mouth while he climbs down the tree, but then when he's just about at the bottom the branch he steps on breaks and he falls to the ground.  The kids were quick to predict what happened to the eggs!  There were lots of groans and exclamations of "GROSS!" "YUCK!!").

Next week we're going to make a ghost for Halloween.  We'll do the poem then.
It's been a hot item on TpT the last 2 weeks.  See it HERE.  

I'm joining Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching for Spark Student Motivation Saturdays.  Click HERE to see more ideas to keep your students focused and loving school.