Free Owl Babies Lesson Plans and Lapbook

Author: Martin Waddell
Illustrator: Patrick Benson
ISBN: 0763617105
Summary: Three worried owlets wait for their mother to return from her night flight.

Unit and lapbook prepared by Robin Diedrichs

Lapbook Templates

Video by Robin Diedrichs

Cover Page	Owl Facts Layer Book	Vocabulary Matchbooks
Counting Poem	Nocturnal Animals Flap	Owl Craft
Nest Simple Fold	Poems and Songs Layer Book	Lacing Card
Counting Owls Game	Owls Eat Flap Book	Nocturnal Matchbook
Sounds Side by Side

Go-Along Books

Owls by Emily Rose Townsend

All About Owls by Jim Arnosky

Owls by Gail Gibbons (can be read in full at lookybook.com)

Swoop into the Nocturnal World of Owls by Timothy Biel (Zoobooks)

Lapbook Objectives

Enjoyment of owl poems and songs

Counting 1, 2, and 3 objects

Acting out a poem using manipulatives

Learn facts about owls

Enhance fine motor skills through lacing an owl card

Explore the materials used to make an owl’s nest

Discover nocturnal animals

Exposure to vocabulary related to owls

Discussion of the type of food that owl’s eat

Explore making owls using different artistic materials

Make and eat owl snacks

Math

Counting Owls Game: This game will explore counting 1, 2, and 3 objects. To play the game, print the number of game boards according to the number of players. Print one dice template for the game and assemble Counting Owls Game. In addition, make enough owl counters using lima beans to give each player 9 owls. Players will take turns rolling the dice and placing that corresponding number of owls on their game board. The object of the game is to be the first player to fill the game board with owls. To make the owls, spray paint lima beans using brown paint. Next make the features using paint pens. Last, attach feathers for the wings. These owl counters can be used later in child’s education as math manipulatives for addition and subtraction.

The picture is used with permission.

Music/Poetry
Read and enjoy the poems and songs included in the Layer Book. Repeated readings will help your child learn the poems and songs and will promote phonemic awareness. Make the Counting Poem for “Five Little Owls” with your child. Allow your child to manipulate the owls as you read the poem to him/her. Practice counting to five using the owls as well.

Science
Discuss the types of food that we eat as humans – meat, vegetables, cereal, milk, cheese, etc. Ask your child what type of food he thinks owls eat. If he is unsure, reread Owl Babies listening to see if the story provides any clues to the type of food. Tell your student to listen as you reread. Try not to point it out to your student, but let your student discover the answer (even if it takes a few readings on a few different days). The book says, “She’ll bring us mice and things that are nice.”

Owls by Gail Gibbons states that, “Different owls have different diets. They may eat squirrels, skunks, rabbits, birds, snakes, insects, and other creatures.” Make the Owls Eat Flap Book. Talk about how all of these types of foods are meat. Meat eating animals are called carnivores. Owls are also called raptors because they catch their food by grabbing it with their sharp claws. The claws are called talons. Make the Vocabulary Matchbooks to expose your child to these new words. Let your student have fun pretending to be a raptor with sharp talons!

Talk about how many owls make their homes in holes in trees and the type of materials used to make a nest by an owl. See if your child can tell you before you tell based on reading Owl Babies which states, “They lived in a hole in the trunk of a tree with their Owl Mother. The hole had twigs and leaves and owl feathers in it. It was their house.” Have your child explore the materials by making the nest using the Nest Simple Fold. You can use the twigs, leaves, and feathers pictures provided or use real items that correspond.

Introduce the concept of animals that stay awake during the night - nocturnal animals. Compare them to humans who naturally sleep during the evening. It says in Owl Babies “It was dark in the woods and they had to be brave, for things moved all around them.” Have your child brainstorm a list of animals that might be moving at night. Compare predictions to the pictures of animals in the Nocturnal Animals Flap. Have your child choose 6 nocturnal animals for the flap book. In addition, make Nocturnal Matchbook. If your student seems interested in animals at night, be sure to find some books about nocturnal animals at the library to explore together. Usborne has a fun lift-the-flap book entitled Nighttime by Alastair Smith.

Learn other facts about owls-- when owls sleep, where they make their homes, and different types of owls using the Owl Facts Layer Book.

Ask your child what sound an owl makes – “whoo-whoo”. Tell them that different owls make different sounds. This is discussed in All About Owls by Jim Arnosky. Make the Sounds Side by Side to correspond with the three owls discussed – Barred Owl, Great Horned Owl, and Screech Owl. You can also listen to these owls.

Arts and Crafts
Print Owl Craft Template and cut out. Trace on brown construction paper and cut out. In addition cut out other shape and use for a template to make a branch out of brown construction paper. Glue both on piece of black construction paper. Next, glue on two cheerios for eyes and cut out a piece of yellow construction paper and glue for the nose. Spread glue on the body of the owl. Put oatmeal on the breast and pieces of a pine cone on the wing. Use pretzel sticks for the branch.

Compare and contrast the difference between the way the mother owl looks in Owl Babies to the way the baby owls look. Discuss that owl babies (chicks) have white fluffy feathers. Make a picture with the three owl babies. Find a stick outside and glue to a piece of black construction paper. Glue above the stick balls of cotton batting. Add circle eyes, a triangle nose, and V shapes for the feet. Use the front cover of Owl Babies to help guide the picture. You could also add stars in the sky and a moon.

Fine Motor Skills
Print and laminate Lacing Card. Punch holes around the picture using a hole punch. Have your child lace the card using string. It is advisable to put some tape on the end of the tape to help thread it through each hole.

Owl Snacks:

Meat & Cheese - On a paper plate give the children a circle of meat to make the owl's head – bologna, turkey, ham ... Cut a triangle of American cheese by cutting one square cut in half diagonally. Place the cheese, triangle pointing down on the top half of the circle head (this forms the ears and the beak). Next place two Ritz circle crackers for eyes on each side of the beak. Last, place two olive circles on top of the cracker for pupils.

Peanut butter cookies – Use peanut butter cookie dough, either homemade or premade. Take two balls of dough and flatten and shape them to resemble an owl. Put the Hershey’s Kisses and the cashew on while the dough is still hot. Allow to cool and enjoy. The picture is used with permission.