Art from Books Series: Owl Moon

This is a great winter book for lower elementary. It's a cute book about a dad and his daughter hiking in the woods to call to the owls. A right of passage in their family. I love it. I first heard about it from a second grade teacher. She read the book and did this art project with her students.

You can find the book here http://www.amazon.com/Owl-Moon-Jane-Yolen/dp/0399214577.

After reading this book, the art project is fun and easy for students. All you need is some blue and white paint, brown water color, a round sponge, a paint brush, and some painter's tape. A piece of paper is helpful too.

Start by drawing a line across the bottom third of the paper. This is your snow and horizon line.

Next, grab some painter's tape. Cut lengths of tape long enough to reach from the top of the paper to the line you drew. You need about 3-4 pieces per picture. I wouldn't do more then 4 pieces.

Here's the hardest part, you need to rip the tape into two pieces. It needs to create two skinny pieces of tape not the easy was of two short pieces. Once you do that, lay a half a piece of tape down on your paper, then lay the other half down next to it with the clean sides towards each other. This is your tree. Repeat for all the pieces of tape you have.

Grab your blue paint. Paint over the top portion of your picture. Go ahead and paint over your tape. This is your sky.

Once your blue is dry, take your sponge and sponge paint the bottom portion of your picture with white paint. I know, white paint on a white paper, it doesn't make much sense. You'll still get texture though. Once you have covered the area (feel free to cover your drawn line too) dip your sponge in the white paint and put one sponge mark down on the blue to be your moon.

Once your picture has dried remove the tape. Go back with your brown water color on the spaces left by the tape. The tape mark leaves lines that look like winter trees. Water color is good for this because it gives the trees more depth.

Let it dry and you're all done. There is your winter scene just like in owl moon.