Owl Unit Study Homeschool Resources and Printables

Owls are a mysterious bird that are great to do a little unit study on.  Your kids will have so much fun learning about owls with an owl unit study and lots of fun activities, homeschool resources and printables. 

These nocturnal animals are so fascinating. From how they hunt, to how they hoot, there is so much to be learned about owls by doing an owl unit study. 

Different Types of Owls Species

There are over 200 fascinating owls in the owl species. Owls are in the order called Strigiformes. They are divided into two families: Strigidae and Tytonidae.

The owls in family Strigidae are called true owls. These owls have over 200 species in this family. A true owl has a large head, round face and round facial discs around the eyes.

There are 20 different barn owl species. Barn owls are the owls with a heart shaped face. They are usually lighter in color with a white face.

Snowy Owl 

If you are a fan of the Harry Potter series then your kids will know and love snowy owls. The snowy owl is an easy to recognize white owl, one of the largest by weight. It makes its appearance in the winter. It is very powerful and hunts in the winter of the Arctic Tundra.

Listen to the hoot of a snowy howl.

Great Horned Owl

The great horned owl is recognizable by it’s large ear tufts and strong yellow eyed stare. It is a very common owl that is located all over North America. They are very fierce and can take on other large birds as their prey, as well as smaller rodents and frogs.

Listen to the sounds of a great horned owl. 

Barn Owls

Barn owls are medium sized owls that can be found all over the world. They are recognized by their pale, heart shaped face. They are silent hunters and make close to no sound when they are flying at night.

Listen to the sounds of barn owls. 

These barn owl emergent readers  are a great way for young readers to learn about barn owls. There are 4 levels to choose from.

Our Barn Owl Notebooking Pages are blank templates perfect for recording all the facts that your children learned while doing a unit study.

Owl Anatomy

Owls are some of the most recognizable birds by their large heads and gigantic eyes. Let’s take a look at some of their amazing features:

• Large eyes – Their large eyes give them excellent vision to see and be able to hunt in the dark. An interesting fact about owls is that they have binocular vision.
• Head – They can turn their heads completely upside down and around to look. This is quite comical to look at, especially when owl babies do it.
• Beak – Their sharp and downward pointing beak helps in self defense and in hunting. They do not chew their food, but instead swallow it whole. Their sharp beak is used to tear larger pieces of prey up so they can swallow it.
• Stomach -Their stomachs are in two parts to help them digest food. What they are unable to digest is then formed into pellets which they regurgitate and throw up out of their body. These pellets are full of pieces of the animals that they just ate like fur and bones. 

Owl Activities

Unit studies can be incorporated into your lessons plans and cover many different topics with educational videos, nature study resources, and lots of books. Check out these owl activities as a great way to get younger children and older children excited about the amazing creatures.

Fun Owl Crafts

Crafts are such a fun way to include younger kids in what you are studying about. You can create some pretty adorable owl crafts with just a few supplies you majy already have laying around your house.

Owl Face Paper Plate Craft

Grab a paper plate and paint it brown for the body of the ow. Have your child draw two large circles with a black marker. Cut out yellow paper into the shape of a circle and glue them into the circle shape you just drew.

You can then use a black marker to draw in the pupils, or you can cut them out with black construction paper. Draw or cut out an orange or yellow triangle for the beak.

Pinecone Owl 

All you need is a pine cone, some googly eyes, pipe cleaners, cardstock or construction paper, felt and glue. With the help of a parent, use a glue gun to attach googly eyes and a triangle beak to the upper half of the pinecone.

Cut a pipe cleaner into quarters and shape it into the shape of bird feet/talons. Glue those to the bottom of the pine cone. You can add feathers, or hand cut felt wings to the side of the pine cone.

Toilet Paper Roll Owl Craft

A toilet paper roll owl craft is so customizable and easy to make. Take a toilet paper roll and and squeeze the top of it inwards which will push the sides out to look like the top of an owl.

You can leave the toilet paper tube natural brown, or you can glue feathers all over it, or paint it whichever color you would like. Add a little triangle shaped beak pointing down wards and glue on some googly eyes.

Science and Nature Study

In addition to our mini unit study about owls, you may also want to incorporate learning into a science and nature study.

Do you have owls where you live? Go outside at night and try to listen to them hooting. You many even want to look for some owl cameras online, where you can observe an owl in nature. Record your findings in a nature journal.

Owls are not that difficult to draw. Older students may want to practice a drawing of owls to keep in a nature or science notebook. You can record the owl anatomy, and sketch little bits of information on owls in your nature journal next to the drawing. 

Fun Books About Owls 

Young readers learn so quickly when they are reading books or especially when they are having books read to them. There are so many amazing owl books that will go perfectly with any owl unit study. 

All Things Owls For Kids: Filled With Plenty of Facts, Photos, and Fun to Learn all About Owls

Whooo Knew? The Truth About Owls

National Geographic Readers: Owls

National Geographic Readers: Hoot, Owl!

Exploring the World of Owls

Owling: Enter the World of the Mysterious Birds of the Night

Owl Pellet Dissection

When kids dissect owl pellets they are learning about the food chain and the animals that owls eat. During an owl pellet dissection your kids will get to dig out and identify bones, teeth and fur that the owl was not able to digest. These are the parts that are regurgitated into an owl pellet.

An owl pellet is not owl poop, it’s actually owl puke! Kids will be either grossed out or fascinated! They are usually quite fascinated by the tiny bones and things they will pick out with the tweezers to later identify. An owl pellet kit will have detailed instructions on how to dissect the pellet and some  have pictures of bones that you may find inside. 

This is a great activity to do with your whole family, or with other friends and even in a homeschool group. 

Owl Unit Study

This pdf download includes 18 pages of owl learning fun for elementary age students. 

Let’s take a look at what’s included in this unit study:

Includes a  paragraph about owls that is perfect for language arts and reading comprehension. You can have your children read this fun facts outloud to you, or you can read it to them and ask them questions about the text.

Life cycle of an owl and owl anatomy printable pages.

Learn about an owl’s diet and categorize them by the things owls eat and the things owls don’t eat.

Learn about 14 different owls with owl fact cards. These cards are mini coloring pages with an owl to color and the facts of each owl underneath. 

Extra Note Pages – the notes pages can be used as a notebooking page for older children to write out what they have learned during their unit study and research on owls. 

Download your Owl Unit Study

Owls are one of the most recognizeable creatures in the woods. Not only can you hear their ‘hoots’, you can recognize them by their eyes and head turn. This Owl Unit Study is the perfect way to learn about owls and their environment.

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