Group Activities

Adult-Child

Nature Friends

Polk County Conservation Board

Age level:  4 or 5 year olds and an adult

Season:  any season

Time:  1 hour (at dusk)

Topic:  Owls

Theme: Owls are well adapted to night life and catching mice.  Owls can be identified by their calls.

The Nature Friends program is for 4- or 5-year old children with an adult. Maximum group size if 20 child-adult teams. Programs are outside unless weather does not permit.

Title:  Owl Moon

Story:            Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

Discussion:  “How is this night-time (nocturnal) bird different from a robin or sparrow?”  Use owl mounts or pictures: discuss eyesight, talons (sharp claws), silent flight, and different calls. Teach teams the barred owl call, “Who cooks for you?”, “Who cooks for ya’ll!”  Discuss where owls sleep. Most owls like to live in holes in trees. Show whole owl pellets and one that is dissected. Talk about predators and prey. Define the terms and give examples.

Activity:  Take group on hike. Ask parent/child teams to find owl homes. Call for owls. This works best at after dark, but can be done at sunset as well.

Craft:

Make toilet paper tube binoculars. Take two toilet paper tubes. Punch a hole in each of the tubes. Tie one end of a 2 foot length of yarn to a tube. Tie the other end of the yarn to the other tube. Decorate them. These can be a strangle hazard if tubes are connected. Do not connect tubes or do not add strap to prevent this hazard.

Snack:          

Serve rice cakes with 2 round cracker placed in center as eyes. Cracker can be ‘pasted’ down with peanut butter, frosting, or cream cheese. Add slices of banana topped with a raisin on each round cracker. Add a Bugle for beak. Extra Bugles are great for pretend talons as well. The kids love it!

Background information:

• Owls are nocturnal birds of prey.

• Owls

-          have silent flight

-          are well camouflaged.

-          have talons to capture small mammals like a mice.

-          have large feather discs behind their eyes to help gather light for better night vision.

-          cannot turn their head in a full circle, but can turn 180 degrees.

-          have ears that are offset on their heads. This provides the ability to locate sound origins precisely through triangulation.

• Owl pellets are leftover fur, bones, etc. from the animals the owl ate.

• Show mounts or pictures of Iowa owls. Examples: great horned owl, screech owl, and barred owl.

...prepared by Lori Foresman-Kirpes

Polk County Conservation Board

Nature Friends is funded by Polk County Conservation Board,

West Des Moines Park and Recreation

and the Des Moines Chapter of the Izaak Walton League.

Age

4-6

Multiple Intelligences

Linguistic

(reading, talking)

Bodily-Kinesthetic

Gross motor or kinesthetic development (moving, running, moving your body, jumping)

Small motor or tactual development (blocks, puzzles, sensory)

Musical

(songs, patterns, sound)

Interpersonal

(understanding other people and social interactions)

Naturalist

(understanding of the physical world, nature)