Halloween Mask Silhouettes

Samples of how the masks will look once these are cut from black construction paper.

        Teachers or guardians will need to enlarge the patterns to fit their student's head. I've included a picture above to show what these paper Halloween masks will look like once they have been cut from black construction paper. Students may wish to include more details on their masks drawn with a white crayon. Attach a string to hold the masks in place with a stapler on either side of these scary little faces.

       The angry cat seems like a Halloween classic to me, but, the angry bunny rabbit? Oh, well these are very old patterns folks. Sometimes cultural norms slip through the cracks of time...

The angry black cat, I understand.

The angry bunny? Not so much.

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.

Falling Leaves, Squirrels Up Trees...

Silhouettes of oak leaves.

       These two pages of Fall/Autumn paper cuts are by Beckwith. You may cut them from cardboard and trace around them to create fall vignettes in your classroom or paper cut-outs for crafting with young students.

Silhouette of squirrel eating acorns in a tree.

Echidna

       The echidna or spiny ant-eater, a genus of Australian toothless mammals, in size and general appearance resembling a large hedgehog, excepting that the spines are longer, and the muzzle is long and slender, with a small opening at the end through which a long, flexible tongue can be thrust. The echidna sleep during the day.

       It has short, strong legs and its five toes are armed with powerful claws so that it can burrow easily in the ground. It feeds upon ants and other insects, which it catches with its long, sticky tongue. It is nearly allied to the oraithorhynchus or duckbill, and the two form a peculiar class of animals, having in their structure some of the peculiarities that mark mammals, birds and reptiles.

More About Echidna From The Web:

• Echidna Babies Are Real Weird by Animallogic
• Living Ball of Spikes!

Foxhound

       A foxhound is a high-spirited hound that has a keen scent, remarkable perseverance and great endurance. It is easily trained and becomes very skillful in hunting foxes. Somewhat smaller than the staghound, the foxhound seems to be a cross between the staghound or the bloodhound and the greyhound. It is commonly of a white color, with patches of black and tan, has short hair, large and straight limbs and large, thin ears. Its usual height is about twenty inches.

More About Foxhounds from The Web:

• Read About The Breed: AKA - American Foxhound
• The English Foxhound At A Glance

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.

Bower-bird: The Great "Seducer"

       The bower-bird , a name given to several different birds living in Australia or the Pacific islands. They are so called because in the nesting season they build remarkable bowers to serve as places of resort. These are constructed on the ground, usually under overhanging branches in secluded parts of the forest. There the male birds meet and dance and go through the queer antics that are supposed to attract their mates. One species even uses small shells for decoration; another bird builds a tent-like structure around a sapling, using for rafters the stem of an orchid that continues to blossom after it is picked; still another uses only feathers. This fondness for bright things is not confined to the bower-birds, though no other birds seem to possess it to so great a degree. The magpie may be mentioned as an American illustration of this trait.

More About Bower-bird From The Web:

• Bowerbirds Pull Off a Jewel Heist
• Satin Bowerbird part 1 and part 2 by SuperBruceallen
• The Vogelkop Bowerbird: Nature's Great Seducer