A recycled toilet paper roll owl craft
In my previous post, Our 8 favorite poetry for children books that make us happy, I talked about the importance of poetry for young children. We discovered so many poems that made us laugh and smile.
While going through the poetry books, we came across a classic nursery rhyme, Five Little Owls, in two of the books. It gave me the idea to make an owl craft to go with the poem!
I remembered a recycled toilet paper roll owl craft we made when I was a Montessori teacher. We did this project because it went along with our bird study that month. The kids loved it, and it was so easy.
I tried this craft with my three-year-old daughter, Annie, at home. We made five of them, to go with Five Little Owls. Now we can make this nursery rhyme come alive! In this post, I’ll share with you how we made them.
In This Post
Why make a craft to go with your poem?
Making a craft with your poem or rhyme is wonderful for language development in young children.
It is beneficial because:
- it can help your child with memorizing the poem or rhyme.
- your child can explore the poem further while acting it out, like puppets.
- it allows for additional ways to develop phonological awareness skills.
- children learn in different ways. Some children are visual spatial learners.
- it animates the rhyme, making it more engaging.
- it can help boost your child’s love for language.
The Five Little Owls nursery rhyme
Five Little Owls
Five little owls in an old elm tree
Fluffy and puffy as owls could be,
Blinking and winking with big round eyes
At the big round moon that hung in the skies:
As I passed beneath, I could hear one say,
"There'll be a mouse for supper, there will, today!"
Then all of them hooted, "Tu-whit! Tu-whoo!
Yes, mouse for supper, Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo!"
We found Five Little Owls in Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year.
We also found Five Little Owls in Eric Carle’s Animals Animals.
How to make the owl craft
What you will need
- toilet paper rolls. You could also use paper towel rolls cut down to the same height.
- construction paper. We used orange for the beak and brown for the owl belly. You can use any color or type of paper.
- white liquid glue. You could also set up a glue tray like we did here.
- googly eyes. We used large ones since owls have large eyes. You could also cut circles out of paper to make eyes.
- paint and paintbrush. We used tempera paint.
- marker cap. We used this to dip into the paint and stamp small circles. You could also use another small circle shape.
- flat paint palette or paper plate. Make sure it’s flat and wide enough to dip the marker cap into.
- feathers. We used feathers for the wings. If you don’t have feathers, you can cut out wings from the construction paper.
The steps
Tip: We made two owls at the same time; one for me and one for Annie. I did all of the steps together with Annie, so that I modeled for her how to do it. Yes, I helped her to make her owl. But having her watch me make an owl at the same time helped her with making her owl.
1. Paint the toilet paper roll
Paint the roll any color you wish. We painted ours white and purple. Let them dry completely.
2. Stamp circles to make the owl bellies
To make the owl bellies (little circles pattern), dip the marker cap in tempera paint and stamp the circles in a pattern close together. Let the paint dry.
Tip: You will cut the owl bellies from this circle pattern. Save the left over paper or make an extra sheet of this if you don’t have feathers for wings. You can also cut out the wings from this paper.
3. Cut a triangle from the folded edge of paper for the beak
Cut a little triangle from the folded edge of the orange construction paper. This will be the owl beak.
4. Make the owl ears
Once the toilet paper rolls are dry, it’s time to make the owl ears! Push the sides of the toilet paper roll to the center and then press down.
If you have a roll in front of you and try it, you’ll see what I mean. It’s super easy!
5. Cut out the owl bellies
Here are all the pieces needed to make your owl!
If you haven’t already, cut the owl bellies out of the circle pattern. We cut half-ovals.
Also, cut out wing shapes with the left-over paper if you don’t have feathers.
6. Glue the owl bellies
Now it’s time to glue all the pieces together! First, glue the owl bellies. Place the belly on the center of the roll. Tuck the bottom part of the belly inside the roll.
Tip: We also tried gluing the googly eyes and beak before the owl belly. But I found that if you glue on the belly first, you have more room for the belly, and you can place the beak on top of the belly, easily.
7. Glue on the googly eyes
Next, it’s time to glue on the googly eyes! Place them right under the ears.
If you don’t have googly eyes, you could cut large circles out of paper to make the eyes.
8. Glue on the beak and feathers
Glue on the beak and the feathers for wings. If you don’t have feathers, just cut some wings out of the leftover paper.
Tip: Be sure to trim the feathers with scissors so that it’s the right size for the owl. I cut the stick part of the feather off.
We made five owls for our Five Little Owl nursery rhyme! When I read the poem to Annie she had a big smile on her face while looking at the owls. She wanted me to read it over and over again!
Concluding thoughts about the owl craft
When I did this craft with the kids in the Montessori classroom, I set everything up at the art shelf with all the owl pieces in separate baskets. The kids made the owls independently, with a little help. It was mostly a painting and gluing activity. Some of the kids will need help with pressing down the roll to make the ears.
Annie and I had so much fun making these cute little owls. And it was really easy. Annie was able to do most of it with my help. She loved reading Five Little Owls together with the owls. The whole process of making the owls and then reading the rhyme with them made it come alive!
Children learn in different ways, for example, through music, the spoken word, and visually/spatially. Making a craft to go along with a poem or rhyme is a fantastic way to engage our little learners!
Have you ever made a craft to go with a book, nursery rhyme or poem? How did it go? Have you made an owl or other animal craft out of a toilet paper roll? Leave a comment, below!
More Montessori Resources
If you liked this post, you’ll also like:
- Our 8 Favorite Poetry For Children Books That Make Us Happy
- 1 Important Rhyming Activity To Prepare For Phonemic Awareness
- Create 4 Simple and Playful Storytelling for Kids Activities
- How To Encourage Print Awareness With 140 Super Simple Labels
- 1 Playful Pre-Reading Activity To Try Today (Classify Objects)
- Sea Turtle activities: with parts of a sea turtle craft with a recycled egg carton
- Try This Beautiful Parts Of A Butterfly DIY Puzzle + 1 Craft
You can also download the lesson plan for Lesson 1: Beginning Oral Language Activities. I will be adding all of the lesson plans as I write additional blog posts about Oral Language.
I also created cutting strips for winter. Using scissors and cutting is great for developing the muscles in the hand, preparing for handwriting.
You can download them all below, by signing up for the Resources Library.
A recycled toilet paper roll owl craft
These owl crafts from recycled toilet paper rolls are just so adorable!!! I love seeing different ways to use toilet paper rolls in creative ways. I think I have a bag of saved tp rolls if you need them! LOL
Hi Julie,
Thank you so much! I’m happy you enjoyed the owl craft with the toilet paper rolls!
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Another really good read and will definitely be trying this one for our after school craft today! With 6 people in the house we definitely have enough toilet paper rolls to make a quite a few!
Very cute idea!
My 4 year old would love this! Thanks!
Oh my gosh these are adorable love them! Looks like so much fun to make we are going to try!
My little one with love that owl nursery rhyme! Thanks for sharing!
These owls are so cute! I always save paper towel rolls for crafts, so we will have to try this one out soon. Thanks for sharing!
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So easy and adorable! What a fun idea for a craft. I’ll have to save some toilet paper rolls for this.
such a cute creative project to go along with that lovely rhyme!! i loved the eric carle book you mention
These are so cute. I’ll be saving those tissue paper tubes from now on. My toddlers would love this.
We love this book! I like the craft that you’ve created to go with this.
I love how the toilet paper rolls give the owl the perfect shape! These turned out adorable.
Those owls are so cute! I’ll have to try this with my daughter!
Super adorable and great for tactile fine motor skills! I think my kiddo would love this, even more so with the addition of a poem! Thanks for the great craft idea 🙂
Owls are one of my favorite kind of birds, I love this idea! Thanks for sharing this.
What a cute project!