You're a WHoot! with printables

Owls seem to be everywhere all of a sudden. I'm not jumping on the bandwagon, but my Little Mister really likes them. I am always trying to appeal to his interests when thinking of some learning activities. So, we have owls! 

 The free printables at the end of this post include: matching, fill in the color, letter recognition, complete the pattern, counting skills, maze, pre-writing skills, trace the letter and size sorting.

I hope you will try them with your kiddos and give me some feedback. Enjoy!

But first, Whoo Loves You? We made a cute little frame to answer that question!

We painted 6 large craft sticks brown. Then, we glued them all together. We added juice lids for eyes and a construction paper beak. Little Mister picked out this particular picture that he wanted in the frame. One of my early favorites of the chunky monkey!

We also made a cute little owlet from a pine cone, two cotton balls, two google eyes, a construction paper beak and a cardboard circle. Easy and very cute!

Did you know you can dry and make your pine cones open by placing them in the oven? It also leaves a warm, earthy smell in your house! Love it.

Some great owl-ee books we enjoyed also:

Here are our owl-lovin' printables for the week! If you try them please give me some feedback. I want to know what you liked or (gulp) disliked about them. Thanks and enjoy!

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Turkey Track Leaf Play

I love those awesome old Oak trees that have leaves shaped like turkey feet. I grew up hearing them called Turkey Track trees. Little Mister and I were outside playing yesterday and he noticed some 'turkey track' leaves on the ground. I was so proud of his observation skills and we immediately jumped into the moment. Within seconds we were on a Turkey Track Hunt through a far-away, dark jungle. (I know turkeys don't really live in the jungle, but that's where my little hunter wanted to tromp!)

We brought some of our trophies inside and sorted and matched them according to size. All in all, we had a terrific hunt. We used our imagination and then sharpened some math skills. I'd say it was a successful afternoon!

***No actual leaves were harmed in the evolution of this post! Stunt leaves were employed and promptly released after they served to make Little Mister smarter.***

Blow like the Wind

Recently, we found a leaf shaped hole punch and have been excited about using it. 
Today we finally got around to making some Fall trees with colorful foliage. 
Little Mister really enjoyed our new 'toy' and made ever so many leaves!

We then, painted his arm (about half way up to his elbow) with brown paint. 
We stamped 3 different trees, of varying heights, on the card stock. 
I then let Little Mister use a glue stick and add some leaves to our trees.

As you can see, we had a pile of leaves left over, so I made an impromptu graph and let him place the colored leaves in their correct places. Quick and easy math lesson!
However, this only lasted for a few minutes before he discovered the real fun of the day .... wind! 

Wind moves leaves!

 This turned out to be so much fun. We "raked" leaves off the floor and did this over and over and over again! I thought he was going to hyper-ventilate. 

Oh the belly laughs!

Scarecrow Hunt

The greatest thing about living in a small town can be simple traditions! Every Fall merchants place themed scarecrows around town. They are amusing to see and many are just down right funny and cute! This year there are almost 100 scattered throughout town. Little Mister has loved seeing them as we drive around. One beautiful, cool day we decided to search for as many as we could find on foot! Of course, then we got in the car and found lots more. Here are a FEW of our favorites!

Making Our Own Fall Y'all

I hate to be the barer of bad news, but not everyone's Fall season starts with a specific date on a calendar! Where we live, the air conditioner runs on full blast well past Christmas. Our Fall weather usually hits in January and our Winter in February. March is always if-y and by April, it's hot! Oh the joys of living in the Deep South. (However, I must add here that I am Southern by the grace of God... *wink*)

Anyway, we have been seeing all these beautiful fall crafts and activities on blogs and have found it really hard to get into the Fall spirit. Today we decided to take matters into our own hands, literally!

First thing this morning we grabbed some paint brushes and went outside to pick an unsuspecting tree. We painted some red, orange and yellow leaves. What do you think? I believe the tree looks satisfied with its new look. Sort of a mix between: I can do Fall and These colors don't make me look fat!

After creating a Fall fashion show in our front yard, we made an appearance at Nonnie's. It was decided that she too needed a touch of Fall spirit. We gathered up some FALLen leaves from her yard and made some mini trees. We simply glued our collected leaves to a piece of thin cardboard cut into the shape of a tree canopy and attached it to a toilet paper tube by slitting each side of the tube. These leaves received the royal treatment and are the envy of ALL their peers. Who wouldn't love them? They're fabulous! 

It may still be hot here but, with some imagination, we are experiencing Fall.

Happy Fall Y'all!