This is such a fun and cute winter art lesson that not only engages young artists while learning new art terms (collage, texture, overlapping etc.) but also allows for an opportunity where young learners can feel successful with their art skills early on and helps build fine motor control!
One out of my 4 kindergarten classes finished their snowy owls just before winter break, so I’m sharing a small sample that I was able to capture before leaving school! I thought I got more photos of their finished artwork, but I know I was rushing to get out the door haha, so I’ll have to take more after I return and add more photos then!
They did a great job creating these though didn’t they?! I’m very proud of my students hard work with this lesson!
This took 4 (40 minute) art classes to complete and there was a lot of tearing that was required for the owls body. My students really enjoyed the process though and I’ve added the steps with photos as well as the learning goals of the lesson below!
DAY 1
Students each received a 12×18” sheet of black (Sax brand) paper which had an outline of an owl and a branch drawn with a white colored pencil (I did this step ahead of time).
Students each received a small sheet of brown construction paper to tear for the branch first. I showed them to tear longer strips that would fit inside their branches, and to glue the back of the brown paper using a glue stick and press with the flat of their hand for about 5 seconds after in place. For any smaller branches where they needed to add brown paper they tore smaller sections (making a triangular tear or point with their hands).
Once the branch is filled (and btw, they glue the brown paper right over the owls toes as well) they start tearing white (80# drawing paper) into small pieces (I show them to tear the white to about the size of a quarter or a bit larger) and as soon as they tear one piece to glue the back and press down somewhere along the wing or head to start. I also told them not to glue the black paper, but to make sure to glue the torn paper. This way they’ll make sure each piece of torn paper has enough glue so they stay down. We also talked about what overlapping means, and I demonstrated how to overlap the white pieces as they glued.
DAY 2
Students continued tearing the white paper and adding the pieces to the owls body until it was filled in completely. Then I showed them how to tear 3 small pieces for each toe on each foot over the brown branch.
If students finished early, they then added more texture to their collage by drawing lines within their branch using two different shades of brown with crayon.
DAY 3
Students continued finishing their white pieces, adding the owls toes, and then traced 2 circles on yellow construction paper with pencil for the owls eyes, using these cardboard circles that I had (I’m not sure where I got these? But they came in handy for this lesson!) Students cut each one out, glued them on the owls head, and then glued on the pupils and beak. I used a regular hole puncher for the black pupils and handed them out in containers as well as cut black triangles for their beaks.
Also kindergartners added the texture for the bark on the branch with brown crayons at this point, if they hadn’t yet.
This little cutie had some fun with lipstick out at recess before art class!
DAY 4
This was my students FAVORITE day of the lesson because they got to use paint!!
I demonstrated how to paint on some snow on top of the branch first, using liquid tempera paint (I use Crayola “Premier”) and then showed then how to flick snowflakes all around using a toothbrush! Kids LOVED that part especially! Kids shared the paint on paper plates at tables.
Zoom in on the girl in the background below!! She definitely needed a few wet wipes to clean her face afterwards Haha!
Since it was the last day of the lesson, if students had some “bald” spots within their owl, I told them to fill those areas in with white paint using their paintbrush, which worked out great. Another student ( further below ) decided to do a little “finger painting” to add in some snow flakes haha!
My teacher example below, and then some students finished artwork!
LEARNING GOALS:
- Continue to strengthen fine motor skills (tearing, gluing, cutting, drawing)
- Can create a collage using torn pieces of paper, and define what a collage is
- Can define texture and show texture within their artwork
- Can define overlapping and show this in their artwork
- Connection to science/ Learn about owls
Please also check out my most recent blog posts by copying and pasting the title below in my search bar below to go directly to that blog post!
Winter Northern Lights
Mixed-Media Snow Globes
Winter Art Lessons
1 Point Perspective Cityscapes
Thank you so much for visiting my website today! I’ll be posting more within the next day or two and I’m going to work on creating a NEW YouTube tutorial on Winter Northern Lights as well, so be on the look out for that soon!