Showing posts with label Owls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Owls. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Let's Draw Owls - We Did It!


A few days ago, I posted about using owls (Let's Draw Owls) as a subject for a "directed drawing" activity. Well, we did it! Rosetta had a little experience (in kindergarten) with directed draw. I think her teacher taught the class how to draw trees using this method. Two years later, and she still remembers her teacher's exact reasoning for using the directed draw method. I was impressed! Obviously, she was a  good listener.

Funny that -- I first learned the directed draw method in one of my credentialing classes, but I can't  remember the name of the lady who taught it. All I remember is that we drew parrots.

Anyway, I used the above step-by-step provided by Spittin-Toad, since I don't have any real experience drawing owls - or much of anything, really.


For an even simpler version, this is the owl drawing steps provided in the Legends of the Guardians packet I linked in the original Let's Draw Owls post:


Our materials -- We used brown paper bags (one side, with a handle for hanging) and oil pastels similar to the ones above. To do the initial drawing, we used light colored pencils so they would show up on the brown paper.

 
The Method -- After discussing how important it is to be a good listener and observer, I began the step-by-step drawing. I drew my eyes, then  the little voyagers drew theirs, and so on, until the owl outlines were complete.
 
 
The little voyagers watching, then drawing.


 After the outlines were complete, we used the oil pastels to color them in. (Hm, Spiderman seems to have switched hands to color!)

Here are the finished pieces of art:

This is Rosetta's owl. She added a nest and some eggs to her drawing.


This is Saralina's owl. I love how her owl is looking to the side. 
She added the sun and sky to her drawing.

This is Spiderman's owl. Now, he is only three years-old, so he asked Mama Voyager for some "help," and she obliged, but you can tell this is really "his" owl because it is so colorful, just like Spiderman!

Oh, yes! Almost forgot our newest poem for the week -- another owl poem:
 
The Wise Owl
The wise old owl
Sat in an oak.
The more he saw,
The less he spoke.
The less he spoke,
The more he heard.
Why can't we be like
That wise old bird?

All in all, I think this activity was a great success! This is a great activity to use for developing listening and focusing abilities, which are two skills we are working on this year.


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Let's Draw Owls!

Our little voyagers love owls! And why not -- owls have such fascinating personalities, whether in real life or artistic creations. Even Picasso and Van Gogh depicted an owl or two in their work.

Owls are great subjects for "directed draw" activities. They are fairly simple to draw, yet the artist's own personality easily comes shining through. I found several neat posts detailing variations of what I had in mind:

Spittin-Toad has a step-by-step how-to for using the directed draw approach. It is a must-read if you want a really good idea of how it works.


Next up, at Art Projects for Kids: How to Draw an Owl - Simple, step by step (larger image on the website) instructions.

At Deep Space Sparkle - This is activity #2 for a directed draw-based owl art project. The original activity started with directed draw for the basic owl, then used collage to fill it in. See the results HERE. Great step-by-step drawings at the second link.


This next website, How to Draw,  has a really cool feature, especially if your budding artists are a little older. Follow the steps (images on the left) and draw along in the box on the right. The box scrolls down with you!

Need some real live owl inspiration? Go check out the live owl cams at Owl Channel Live. These owls live in nearby Chula Vista, Ca. They are so fascinating to watch! From wooing to egg-laying, then hatching and learning to fly. Oh, yes, and even seeing them eat fresh-caught mice and other rodents!

The National Wildlife Federation has a whole pdf packet packed with great activities, called Legends of the Guardians (to go with the movie.)

Oh, we have an OWL surprise, too! We joined the Give a Hoot Giveaway Hop and will be giving away this travel art wallet. Isn't it adorable? Mama Voyager made it especially for this giveaway. Now your little one can draw owls on the go!




a Rafflecopter giveaway