OWL VISION - Recycled paper roll OWL binocular STEM Craft!
Create this fun owl vision binocular craft, and imagine seeing the world like an owl! You can also use it to go spy on some birds outside - you’ll be the most interesting bird watcher out there! Plus, who doesn’t love pretending they are an owl themselves?
Owls have what is known as binocular vision. Their eyes are situated on the front of their head instead of the sides, and their eyeballs do not move! Owls can see an object with both eyes at the same time in 3 dimensions – height, width, and an increased depth perception. Owls also have eye tubes! Which aren’t like our eyeballs, that move in their sockets. Their eyes are rod-shaped eyes. Owls have to move their bodies or heads in order to look around.
We have been admiring a backyard Northern Pygmy Owl, and thought this would be a fun way to imagine how they perceive the world.
Materials:
Glue
Scissors
Felt sheets
2 toilet paper rolls
Cardboard
Mason Jar lid or circle stencil
We used white, light blue and yellow felt sheets, Get creative and use any colours you want for this recycled paper roll OWL binocular craft!
Steps:
First, cut out four 2 inch wide felt sheets to glue onto the end of your toilet paper rolls, you’ll need two strips per roll. These will represent the eyes of the owl. We used yellow. Wrap one strip each onto the end of both binoculars, as well as on the inside. This makes the yellow eyes stand out even more, like in the image below:
Set those aside for now, while you work on the circles that attach to the paper roll binoculars.
For the owl feathers around the eyes:
Large Circle Dimensions:
4 inches in diameter
Small inside circle:
2 inches in Diameter
First, get a piece of thin cardboard, like from a recycled cereal box, to create the larger circle that with be the feather part around the eye, We glued white felt onto the cardboard prior to cutting out the cardboard. Just to have an underlayer of felt, but this isn’t necessary.
Use a circle stencil, or a large mason jar lid and trace out a circle that is 4 inches all around with a pencil.
Cut out your larger circle, making one for each eye.
Using the toilet paper roll as a guide, trace the middle circle onto your larger circle (like a donut). This inner circle is 2 inches in diameter.
Cut out the middle circle. This will be the hole that will fit snug onto the paper roll, make it an exact fit so that you don’t have to glue it on, it will just hold there.
You have now created basically two donut shapes for the felt feathers to be glued onto.
Now that you have your two circles for around the eyes, it’s time to cut out 1-2 inch teardrop shaped feathers. We cut roughly 12 of each colour.
Cut the second set of teardrop shapes - about 12-13 for each eye. This time cut the point of the teardrop shape so it is a straight line, that way it goes around the circled eye opening. Layer the feathers slightly on top of each other as you glue it down. You can use white glue, a glue stick or a glue gun!
Glue the second layer of feathers onto the cardboard so that they overlap the first layer, making sure to match the edges up to the eye hole.
It’s now time to create a beak! Glue a small piece of orange felt onto a piece of cardboard and cut them both out at the same time into a triangle shape.
Start piecing it together:
Assemble the two circled eye feathers that you just made together, by gluing them onto each other at the edge like in the photo. It’s best to use a glue gun so that it sticks together very well.
Now glue on the felt cardboard beak directly in the middle and at the bottom of the eye feathers.
Grab the paper roll eyes that you made earlier and attach them together, by adding a 2-3 inch rectangle piece of cardboard - attach them on an angle like in the picture. You may want to put the paper rolls into the eyes now, before gluing the paper rolls together. Put the yellow felted end into the feather eye holes. They don’t need to be glued on and will hold on their own. Test the angle the rolls will need to be glued together. Our feather eyes are spaced apart more but you might have them closer together and won't need to angle.
You can also add different designs to your feathered eye part. For our second set, we cut the felt like a snowflake, by folding it up and adding tiny holes, then unfolded it to see diamond cutouts. Then we added extra feathers around the cardboard circles.
Get creative! Have Fun and Most of all get outside and explore! Maybe you’ll see a wild owl.
We hope you have fun learning about owls and owl vision and enjoy creating this craft! If you create this craft by Acorns and Aprons, feel free to share It and tag us @acorns.and.aprons on Instagram and we will share your creations to our stories.
Here's the owl vision printable for free, click on the button or image to download it! Available for a limited time! Don't forget to sign up to our newsletter to get freebies directly to your inbox!
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