Know It Owl
When he spots a friend planning to build a den, Owl is so full of enthusiasm that he can’t help offering LOTS of advice. Every step of the way, he offers his top tips, but never actually does any of the work, leading to a very disgruntled friend and no room for Owl in the den. Can Owl learn to listen and work with others?
Completely delightful, this modern fable about the perils of being a ‘know it owl’ is brilliant for sharing with children at home and at school. I have chosen to use ‘he’ for Owl, but the text does not indicate whether Owl is, in fact, male or female, making it perfect to use with anyone. Emma’s text is full of gentle humour as Owl proudly states the obvious in the name of helping, oblivious to the increasing annoyance of his friend and there are many little jokes which will appeal to any adults sharing the story as much as their youngsters!
The illustrations are wonderful and full of details. The story is told completely through Owl’s speech, cleverly emphasising how he is monopolising the ‘conversation’, but the illustrations allow the reader to see how this advice is being received and to empathise with Owl’s friend when they reach breaking point! However, the pictures also show a fluffed up, excitable, over-enthusiastic Owl , full of good intentions, making the story perfect for exploring situations where they might need to be more gently assertive or where they might need to cooperate more. When Owl realises what he has done, he is very contrite and seeks to make amends, showing how important it is to take responsibility for our actions.
The story is so lovely that I thought children would enjoy making Owl flapping his wings around as he shares his ideas. You will need cardboard (I have used some orangey-brown and white card I had, but you could use a cereal box and colour/ paint this), 2 split pins, some wool or string, glue and colouring pens. I also used two feathers for the tufts on Owl’s head.
First, draw round a larger circle for Owl’s body, adding two little bumps at the top of the head to attach the feather tufts to and cut this shape out. You also need to cut out two larger white circles and two smaller white circles for the eyes.
Next, draw round your hand twice to create the wings. Keep your thumb tucked in and spread the four fingers out to create Owl’s wing feathers. Cut these out carefully. You might like to shape them a little if there is a bump where your thumb was!
Using the pens, add pupils to the smaller white circles. I have coloured the other part yellow in the book, but this is up to you! Stick each of the small circles into the centre of one of the larger white circles and add lines from the pupils to the outside edge. Now stick these on to the large brown circle, slightly overlapping as shown- do not glue down the bottom edge. Cut a small triangle in brown for the beak and stick this in place- again, do not glue down the bottom edge. Stick a feather to each bump on the head for the ear tufts.
Now, place the wings behind the body to judge where they should be attached- about half way down the body with space between them works best. Using the split pins, carefully attach each wing to the body. Do not do this too close to the edge of the wing or you will have trouble with the next step (look at the middle picture as a guide).
Place your Owl face down with the wings sticking out at right angles to the body. Make a small hole in the edge of each as shown in the middle picture above and tread string or wool though, tying this carefully in a loop. Do not make this too tight or your wings will not move freely. Now tie a longer length of string/ wool to the middle of the piece which connects the two wings as shown in picture 3 above. When gently pulled, this is what will cause the wings to flap.
Turn your owl back over. Using a piece of white card, create a piece for Owl’s tummy. Stick this is place to hide the heads of the split pins. As you didn’t stick the bottom edge of the eyes and the beak down earlier, you can now tuck this under these before sticking everything into place. Use your pens to make a few feather marks on his tummy and your Owl is complete. Hold him by the tip of his head and pull gently downwards on the long string. His wings will flap! Have fun!
Know It Owl Emma Perry, illustrated by Andrea Stegmaier
Storyhouse Publishing ISBN: 978-1916281868