Patterns for Penguins

The versatile, playful penguin pattern!

       This cheerful construction paper penguin pattern comes in handy for educators who need to decorate a winter or Christmas themed bulletin board. Each penguin may be labeled with student names and stapled to a scenic view on a bulletin board.

       Penguins can also include numbers or letters and hung on a "wash line'' across the top of a boarder on the wall. 

       Or perhaps teachers would like to include simple math problems or fractions on the belly of each penguin, then laminate the critters for a thematic set to introduce young students to a game.

        Or, simply glue together the parts of the penguins in a step-by-step assignment to help teach little ones 'how' to follow instructions as these are read aloud. There are so many uses for paper patterns like this one within the context of a classroom.

       Penguins are a playful winter theme that may be used beyond December to decorate with. Keep them up through January and February to introduce new units of study in the natural sciences!

       If you want them to look more festive for the holidays, students could cut triangle shaped stocking hats and rectangle shaped scarves from printed papers and tape these on top of their paper pets!

More Winter Weather Fun:

• Coloring collection at Crayon Palace Blog here

Template/Patterns for construction paper penguins by kathy grimm.

Barefoot Days

 Barefoot Days
Rachel Field

In the morning, very early,
That's the time I love to go
Barefoot where the fern grows curly
And grass is cool between each toe,
On a summer morning-O!
On a summer morning!

That is when the birds go by
Up the sunny slopes of air,
And each rose has a butterfly
Or a golden bee to wear;
And I am glad in every toe-
Such a summer morning' O!
Such a summer morning!

The Day Before April

The Day before April
Mary Carolyn Davies

The day before April
Alone, alone,
I walked in the woods
And sat on a stone.

I sat on a broad stone
And sang to the birds.
The tune was God's making
But I made the words.

The Interrupting Owlet

The Interrupting Owlet
by Helen Cowles LeCron

When Mother Owl and Father
Owl are talking busily
About old Uncle Blinker in the gnarled
old maple tree,
Or Cousin Drowsy Hoot-Owl in the
oak across the way,
Or stylish Old Miss Snowy Owl, I
much regret to say
That naughty little Downy often inter-
rupts the two
To ask them, "Who'd you say it was?
Say! WHO, Pa? WHO, Ma?
WHO?"

Though Mother Owl has told him that
the question's impolite,
And little owls should never interrupt
on any night
When parents talk, it doesn't seem to
do a bit of good!
For Downy still continues, as no
thoughtful owlet would,
With "WHO, Pa? Who Ma?
Who'd you say?" and "Tell me,
folks! Aw! Do!"
And "WHO'D you say it was? Aw,
Ma! Say! WHO, Pa WHO,
Ma! WEHO--OO?"

How to draw a peacock, an ostrich and a blue jay...

       Draw three interesting birds: the peacock, the ostrich and the blue jay, using simple shapes. Step-by-step illustrations are shown below so that young students may discover just how simple it is the accomplish these drawing exercises.

       When you first look at a Peacock you might think he would be difficult to draw. But if you just break down his body into simple shapes starting with an oval, drawing becomes simple. Add a head, then his feet, next his wings and last his beautiful tail.

       Start with a circle to draw the ostrich. Some say that if he can't see you, he thinks that you can't see him. He is the largest bird in the world and can't even fly! But how he can run and kick with those giant long legs of his!

 

       The blue jay is a member of the Crow family, he is not such a plunderer as the Crow. In fact, he does a great deal of good by eating many insects that feed on the foliage of trees. He has a bad habit of being meddlesome. This makes him very unpopular in bird society and when he approaches a tree, the other birds fly away.

Wildlife Stencils for The Classroom

Stencil of bird in flight with out-stretched wings.

    Be sure to click directly on the stencils in order to download the largest file size. These four wildlife stencils for educators to use in their classrooms are duty free: bluebird, jay, running rabbit and a squirrel holding an acorn.

Stencil of a jay sitting on the limb of a tree.

Stencil of a running rabbit or hare.

Stencil of a squirrel holding a hazel nut.

Flamingo: 10 Fun Facts

The flamingo is a strange-looking bird, whose body is rather smaller than that of the stork, but which, owing to its great length of neck and leg, measures on average six feet, from head to foot. 

10 Fun Facts About Flamingos:

1. There are several different species found in Mediterranean and tropical countries, all more or less red in color and varying in size. 
2. They migrate in V-shaped flocks. 
3. Their necks are extremely slender and flexible, and their big, naked bills are bent abruptly down, as if broken near the middle.
4. In feeding, the bird stands nearly erect, thrusting its neck downward and burying its bill and perhaps its head in the water, with the top of the bill downward. 
5. It then sways its head from side to side, causing currents of water to pass back and forth through the bill, where fine horny projections strain out the seeds and the small animals that are stirred up from the bottom by the bird's feet. 
6. The birds nest in the warm countries in large colonies, upon muddy flats near the water level. 
7. Their nests are big cones of reeds and sticks, cut off squarely at such a height that the mother bird can sit with her legs dangling down the sides, though she usually sits with them folded up beneath her.
8. The flamingo of North America nests in the latitude of Florida. 
9. The male has a light red plumage, whose large feathers have black quills; the females are pale pink and the young nearly white. 
10. As is the case with other beautiful birds, their handsome plumes made them sought by hunters in the past and laws have been passed for their protection.

More About Flamingos From The Web:

• Captured Flamingos Get Hydrotheraphy
• How baby flamingos get their pink color

Flamingos at Lake Nakuru by Ruedi Abbuhl.

The Ostrich

The ostriches dining on cucumbers and milk.

The Ostrich 

by Burges Johnson

A QUEERER bird has ne'er occurred
Than is the ostrich, so I've heard.
Though women flock from west and east
To pluck him for their finery,
He differs much from man, for he
Don't care for plucking in the least.
(His hide is thick, his speed is quick,
And jiminy! how he can kick!)

His special pride is his inside:
It's double-lined with Bess'mer hide.
He has no fear of golden bucks
Or other dainties of that ilk;
He laughs at cucumbers and milk
O'er pie and Neuburg gayly clucks.
(There is no strife in his home life
O'er biscuit builded by his wife.)

His motto is, "I mind my biz,
Whatever troubles have ariz."
When, overcome with shame, he tries
To shun the glaring public light,
He thinks he's wholly hid from sight
If he has merely shut his eyes.
(That frame of mind you'll often find
Has currency with humankind.)

Ostriches play hide and seek.

 

The Fowls

THE FOWLS 

by M. Nightingale

Black hens, white hens, speckled hens and

brown.

Clucking in the sunshine, strutting up and

down;

Very vain and happy they for were the truth but

known

Each thinks the loudest cackle in the farm-yard is her

own,

And each declares the egg she's left behind her in the nest

Is bigger and much better than the eggs of all the rest.

"Cackle-cackle! Cluck-a-club!

Cock-a-doodle-do!

The cock is king of Farm-yard Land,

But I am queen there, too."

White hens, brown hens, speckled hens and black,

With lots of little yellow chicks a-toddling at their

Back;

Father cock must come and look, his red comb on his head;

"Cheep at him, my pretties! Sir, be careful how

you tread!

Now are they not a lovely brood? Just see them peck

and run;

And see how my two soft warm wings will cover

every one.

Cackle-cackle! Cheepie-cheep!

Ah, Cock-a-doodle-do,

Although you're king of Farm-yard Land

I'm prouder far than you!"

Poems About Birds...

Time To Rise

by Robert Louis Stevenson

A birdie with a yellow bill
Hopped upon the window-sill;
Cocked his shining eye, and said,
"Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head?"

Seven Little Chicks

by Wilhelmina Seegmuller

Seven little chicks go,

"Peep, peep, peep,"

Hunting where the grasses grow

Deep, deep, deep.

Then the mother hen calls,

"Cluck, cluck, cluck,"

Wishing every little chick

Luck, luck, luck.

Once I Saw a Little Bird

Once I saw a little bird
Come hop, hop, hop.
So I cried, "Little bird,
Will you stop, stop, stop?"

I was going to the window
To say, "How do you do?"
But he shook his little tail,
And far away he flew.

Little Cock-Sparrow

Mother Goose Rhyme

A little cock-sparrow sat on a green tree,
And he chirruped, he chirruped, so merry was he;
A little cock-sparrow sat on a green tree,
And he chirruped, he chirruped, so merry was he.

A naughty boy came with his wee bow and arrow,
Determined to shoot this little cock-sparrow.
A naughty boy came with his wee bow and arrow,
Determined to shoot this little cock-sparrow.

"This little cock-sparrow shall make me a stew,
And his giblets shall make me a little pie, too." 

"Oh, no!" said the sparrow, "I wont make a stew.
So he flapped his wings, and away he flew. 

There Was A Little Robin

by Wilhelmina Seegmuller

There was a little robin

Sat singing in a tree;

From early morn till dark he sang -

"The world was made for me."

The Woodpecker

The Woodpecker

by Elizabeth Madox Roberts

The woodpecker pecked out a little round hole

And made him a house in the telephone pole.

One day when I watched he poked out his head,

And he had on a hood and a collar of red.

When the streams of rain pour out of the sky,

And the sparkles of lightning go flashing by,

And the big, big wheels of thunder roll

He can snuggle back in the telephone pole.

Woodpecker feeds here babies, well one of them anyhow.

The Sea Gull by Mary Howitt

The Sea Gull

by Mary Howitt

Oh, the white Sea-gull, the wild Sea-gull,

A joyful bird is he,

As he lies like a cradled thing at rest

In the arms of a sunny sea!

The little waves rock to and fro,

And the white gull lies asleep,

As the fisher's bark, with breeze and tide,

Goes merrily over the deep!

The ship, with her fair sails set, goes by,

And her people stand to note

How the Sea-gull sits on the rocking waves,

As if in an anchored boat.

The sea is fresh, the sea is fair,

And the sky calm overhead,

And the Sea-gull lies on the deep, deep sea.

Like a king in his royal bed.

The Snow-Bird

Snowy pine or fir trees and a squirrel eating nuts.

The Snow-Bird 

by Williams Cullen Bryant

The snow-bird twittered on the beachen bough,

And 'neath the hemlock whose thick branches bent

Beneath its bright cold burden, and kept dry.

A circle, on the earth, of withered leaves,

The partridge found a shelter. Through the snow

The rabbit spring away. The lighter Track

Of fox, and the raccoon's broad paths were there,

Crossing each other. From his hollow tree

The squirrel was abroad, gathering the nuts

Just fallen, that asked the winter cold and sway 

Of winter blast, to shake them from their hold

This version was shortened and illustrated for school children. Read the original in it's entirety at the poetry foundation.

Fairy Friends Paper Cuts

    These fairies have butterfly wings and companions who play with them inside of a garden. Paper cuts also include flowers, grasses, birds and animal friends.

The Owl by Tennyson

 THE OWL

When cats run home and light is come,

And dew is cold upon the ground,

And the far-off stream is dumb,

And the whirring sail goes round,

And the whirring sail goes round;

Alone and warming his five wits,

The white owl in the belfry sits.

When merry milkmaids click the latch,

And rarely smells the new-mown hay,

And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch

Twice or thrice his roundelay,

Twice or thrice his roundelay;

Alone and warming his five wits,

The white owl in the belfry sits.

Second Song--To The Same.

Thy tuwhits are lulled, I wot,

Thy tuwhoos of yesternight,

Which, upon the dark afloat,

So took echo with delight,

So took echo with delight,

That her voice, untuneful grown,

Wears all day a fainter tone.

I would mock thy chaunt anew:

But I cannot mimic it;

Not a whit of thy tuwhoo,

Thee to woo to thy tuwhit,

Thee to woo to thy tuwhit,

With a lengthened loud halloo,

Tuwhoo, tuwhit, tuwhit, tuwhoo-o-o

by Alfred Tennyson

Craft a Funny Gobbler From Paper Plates

This seated turkey craft is ready to hang. His tail feathers and body are held together and spin on a brass brad.

Supply List For This Turkey:

• a variety of magic markers
• one black permanent ink marker
• one printed copy of the turkey graphic below
• two paper plates, one larger than the other 
• one brass brad

      This funny paper plate craft is so easy to assemble after coloring the template and drawing "feathers" on to the perimeter of two paper plates. Just find the center of the paper plates and turkey graphic and then poke a brass brad through all three and clamp the elements together. Hang the gobbler up and spin him around to make him look dizzy!

For best results print the turkey graphic out on heavy weight paper. Above you can see how he looks before attaching the tail feathers made from two paper plates.

Download and print this funny gobbler graphic for your next Thanksgiving craft today.

Something to Be Thankful For 

by Clara J. Denton

I'm glad that I am not to-day

A chicken or a goose,

Or any other sort of bird

That is of any use.

I'd rather be a little girl,

Although 'tis very true,

The things I do not like at all,

I'm often made to do.

I'd rather eat some turkey than

To be one, thick and fat,

And so, with all my heart, to-day,

I'll thankful be for that!

Practice Shading An Owl

This owl is wide awake. Give him big yellow eyes and practice shading in all of his little feathers.

       Above is the "digital tracing," of the image. Students may look at the original sample below in order to practice shading techniques on top of the printed digital tracing. After a student learns shading techniques with a number 2 pencil, he or she may choose to try working with colored pencils or even watercolors in order to enhance the digital tracing above.

A Fall Collage Featuring An Owl

       Collage (From the French: coller, to glue) is a technique of an art production, primarily used in the visual arts, where the artwork is made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. Above you can see that I began this collage using a template of an owl that I cut from heavy construction paper.

      A collage may sometimes include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or handmade papers, portions of other artwork or texts, photographs and other found objects, glued to a piece of paper or canvas. The origins of collage can be traced back hundreds of years, but this technique made a dramatic reappearance in the early 20th century as an art form of novelty.
      For this fall collage I used wood chips, pom-poms, acorn caps, painted and stamped papers and magazine clippings along with a few markers: brown, white, black and yellow. I will give my younger students templates to trace around. The older students will be required to draw their own owl designs.

      The term collage derives from the French "coller" meaning "glue". This term was coined by both Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art. Owls were popular subjects for both cubists to include in their still life art works as well!

      I pasted some real feathers into my collage to finish off my teacher sample.

See More Owl Collage Lessons and Ideas:

• Owl collages and matting
• Owl collage from Roadsworth
• Marbled Paper Owl Collages
• Recycled owl collage
• Magazine Collage Owls

Widdy-Widdy-Wurky

This little song from 1911 (French?) is perfect for an early learning center's student performance at a Thanksgiving Play or festival. It is simple enough for little ones to memorize and silly enough for them to enjoy doing it! Don't forget to dress your performers up in costume.

This is sung by the children in a semicircle. They come in a single file. Each child takes the name of an animal, and as each name is mentioned, the child whose name it is must clap hand in time. All clap hands together. At the end all march out, the leaders first, each child falling into place as his or her name is mentioned. Go round in single file once and then out.

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey, 

Sit-a-gain is my hen,

Feather-er-loose, is my goose,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey.

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Quacky-wuck is my duck,

Velet-mat is my cat,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Shiny-coat is my goat,

Tub-of-wine is my swine,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Run-a-course is my horse,

Milkey-ow is my cow,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

What's-o'clock is my cock,

Run-around is my hound,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Nice-look-out is my house,

Dart-about is my mouse,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey,

Yes-I-can is my man,

Whirley-wind is my child,

Widdly-widdy-wurkey I call my fat turkey!

Restored Antique Alphabet Prints

      These restored antique alphabet prints would look charming in a child's nursery/bedroom or a homeschool classroom. I've cleaned and restored them for your next alphabet craft. Enjoy and read the Terms of Use before printing them out.

The above image for pinning please.

A was and Apple, an Archer, an Arrow. B was a Bird, Bear and a Barrow.

C for Cat and D for Dish, E for an Elephant, F for a Fish.

G for Goose and Ha for Ham, I for an Inn and J for Jam.

K for Kite and L for Light. M for the Moon and N for Night. O for Owl and P for Prattle,
Q for the Queen and R for Rattle.

S for Ship and T for Tap, U for an Urn and V for Vat. W for Windmill, for Watch & Wren,
 X stands in English for no word but ten.

Y is for Yew, for Youth and for Yeast, Z is for Zebra a beautiful beast.

More Restored Alphabet Print by Kathy Grimm:

• A Bible Alphabet from Thrifty Scissors
• A Noah's Ark Alphabet at Easter Egg Crafts
• Animal Alphabet Flash Cards at The Crayon Palace