Whooooo Loves Owls?

Good evening, night owls!  I've noticed that most of my animal-themed storytimes seem to go over pretty well with the kids who attend my storytime.  I had collected quite a few adorable books featuring owls at my library location, and I remembered that my niece used to get a kick out of hooting like an owl when she was first learning animal sounds, so I decided to build a theme upon this fascinating creature.  We had such a good time with this one!  And I think it had a lasting impact, because I heard that one of my young visitors was hooting like an owl for many days after storytime.  Enjoy!

Books

Good-Night, Owl! by Pat Hutchins

Little Friends: Home Sweet Home by Roger Priddy

Little Owl’s Night by Divya Srinivasan

Who Hoo Are You? by Kate Endle

Lead-In

I started off this storytime by telling the kids a little bit about owls.  Since my group is made up of very young children, many of them are still learning the names and sounds of animals.  So we began by describing the characteristics of owls including their big eyes, their nocturnal sleeping patterns, and the "hoooot hoooot" sounds they make.

Songs & Rhymes

★ Owl in the Tree- to the tune of Skip to My Lou (source).

*We sang this one with our hands around our eyes to look like owls.*

Owl in the tree says, "Who, who, who."

 Owl in the tree says, "Who, who, who."

 Owl in the tree says, "Who, who, who."

"Who, who, are you?"

★Wide-Eyed Owl Rhyme (source)

There's a wide eyed owl
(thumbs and forefingers around eyes)

With a pointed nose,
(point to nose)

Two pointed ears,
(forefingers extended up from head)

and claws for toes,
(fingers and arms bent in front of chest)

He lives way up in the tree,
(point to tree)

And when he looks at you,
(point at the group)

he flaps his wings,
(fold arms into arm pits and flap)

and he says "whoo, whoo"
(hands cupped around mouth, calling out)

Felt Board Activity

I put together a fun felt board activity using colored owls and a catchy, quick song that is easily adaptable to sing a verse for each color.  I printed out a template and used it to make 6 owls, each a different color.  I glued white and orange felt and googly eyes to create the eyes and beak, then drew on the wing details with a Sharpie.  They were quick and easy to make, and I thought they turned out pretty cute.  I started with a blank board and revealed one owl at a time, at which point we would flap our "wings" (folded arms) and sing the following little rhyme in a sing-songey tune.

Whooo, whooo

I am an owl.

Whooo, whooo

A little yellow owl.

We repeated the song for each color until all 6 owls had been revealed, then reviewed the colors as each owl was once again removed from the board.

Closure

After blowing bubbles and singing the Goodbye Song, I had the kids come to see me for a tiny owl stamp.  As they approached me, I'd ask them what the owl says and have them hoot as I stamped their hands (SO cute!).

Additional Resources

Owls by Gail Gibbons

Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Owl template for felt pieces or craft projects

The owl stamp I used at the closure of this storytime can be found here.

Intro music- I played Do the Owl by The Wiggles as families entered the storytime room.