Put this lesson plan about owls on your fall to-do list. These simple activities help preschoolers and kindergarteners learn about owls and relate this new information to their own lives. I love learning about animals with my PreK class because they love it. Combine book learning, hands-on creating, and group discussion to make this a well-rounded lesson about owls. Oh, and do not forget to have this habitat sorting activity our during free choice too. It’s a perfect addition to this forest animal lesson plan.
The Lesson
In PreK, I like to start science lessons like this with a question and a chance for our class to share their prior knowledge. So asking something like this, “What do you think owls eat?” allows my students to share their thoughts. As they do, I may guide the activity by responding to suggestions with questions like “Do you think owls cook their food? No, they don’t have kitchens.” or maybe ” Are Owls carnivores or a herbivore? A carnivore is an animal that only eats other animals; a herbivore eats just plants.” Of course, only answering that if no child offers the answer.
After gathering our prior knowledge, I will offer up a resource, in this case, a book, to get some definitive answers to this question.
The Book
Owls by Gail Gibbons is a great book all about Owls. I don’t read the whole book to my students. It’s a fantastic book, but there is a lot in one sitting to digest. Instead, I read the relevant parts to this lesson and pop it on our science table afterward.
After the story, you can jump right into the activity or leave it for a later day. In my class, we have a break between the story and our group lesson, so I have to return to the rug and remind my little learners about what we discovered. They always jump right back in.
What do owls eat? Preschool lesson plan about owls
Now it’s time to sort. I show the class each picture strip reminding and incorporating what we learned about owls from the book as we sort. ( print these images here)
“Are cookies meat? Can an owl find cookies in the forest?” No, of course not. Cookies are human food, not owl food.
“What about a frog? Would an owl eat a frog? Yes! Owls are carnivores; they eat other animals. Are frogs forest animals?”
Sort through the animals and foods talking about why an owl would or wouldn’t eat them based on the information you gathered in the book about owls eating meat, being expert hunters, and living in forests.
Now be prepared for a student to suggest that humans also eat frogs, it hasn’t happened in a class for me yet, but I expect it will someday.
Owl Craft – Paper Bag Puppets
This craft is not fancy; it’s not meant to be put on a shelf and shown off to folks. It’s a craft that serves a purpose, to support the learning our students did as they gathered information about what owls eat. This is the hands-on part of this lesson plan about owls.
Gather your materials. You will need a brown paper bag for each student, crayons, cardstock in 3 colors( brown, white, and orange), scissors, glue sticks, this printable of common owl prey ( for forest owls), and scissors.
Start by prepping the owl parts. Using the cardstock, you will cut out two large circles in brown or black and two smaller white ones ( or use googly eyes).
Triangles for ears for each student.
You will also need to cut out one beak in orange.
You will also want to cut out the owl prey ( print the images of prey here).
Now it’s time for students. Offer your students crayons of all colors to draw on their owl’s feathers.
Next, glue the owl parts to the paper bag, ensuring they are going on the flap but not covering it.
When your students are done creating their owl, it’s time to feed it. Have each student choose one prey to glue into their owl’s mouth.
Let the owls dry open; when the glue is dry, carefully fold it back into a puppet. I can’t believe this is the best image I could get of this craft, but as I said, the goal isn’t cute; it’s learning!
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