Monday, June 27, 2011

3 Minute Owl - Story Script

Lots of whittlers and carvers like to carve the 3 minute owl and hand them out to the kids that are watching.  I like to have a pocket full of the finished owls just for that purpose.  When I demonstrate to the kids, how to whittle or carve the owl, I like to get their involvement.  To do this I will tell them a little bit about owls and ask them questions about owls.  I use the following script to achieve this involvement.  The script has two levels.  The statements and questions that I make and ask, and second, the carving steps to follow.  (The script does not match the carving steps as shown in the above photo, but you can see what to carve from the steps)
SCRIPT
Some owls are large and some are small.  The one I will carve will be small.
Some owls look like they have horns.
CARVE THE TOP OF THE OWLS HEAD (step 1 &2)
But they don't, that's just the way some of the feathers grow and stick up.
CARVE THE SIDES OF THE OWLS HEAD (step 5)
Owls look like they don't have a neck.
CARVE THE BOTTOM OF THE HEAD (step 3)
But they do.  And they can turn their heads nearly all the way around.  Owls cannot move their eyes, so they move their heads nearly all the way around, so they can see more.  Where do owls sit?
CARVE A TREE LIMB (step 4)
Owls spend lots of time sitting in a tree, on a branch.  Why do they sit in a tree?
Waiting for dinner.  Owls are birds of prey.  Do you know what they eat?
Owls eat mice and rats.  A Barn Owl can eat up to 1000 mice a year.  How do the Owls catch the mice and rats?
CARVE THE CLAWS ON THE BRANCH (step 6)
Owls have powerful claws to catch and hold the mice. In fact the owl has four toes on each leg.  Each toe has a sharp talon on the end.  Two toes point forward and two back wards.  This is better for capturing and holding prey.
Since owls don't have teeth, they cannot chew their dinner.  They use their sharp beak to tear their dinner apart and swallow the pieces.
CARVE THE BEAK ( step 5)
How does the owl sneak up on the mice and rats?  Owls can hear a mouse 60 feet away.  They swoop in on wings and grab the mice.
CARVE THE WINGS (step 6)

Give each of the kids a finished owl......Who knows, maybe there will be one who ends up wanting to learn how to carve.....

2 comments:

jcorn said...

First time I've come across your wonderful page here.. Just LOVE the script with the carving, I for one would be asking you to teach me how! (Even Now, too!) And what a Great, Simple project to capture the attention Just long enough, and to then hopefully hold it Just a wee bit longer, too... It's awesome! THANK YOU for taking the time to share this. :) ~Jo in Colorado

jcorn said...

Now to spend even more time looking at how you did those awesome li'l owls to try n do one or two myself! Some Scouts I know would be interested in this! ;) Thanks again.. ~ Jo