Toucans!

I was so excited to teach about toucans today! I've never taught about them before so I was learning right along with the kids. I'm glad I added them to my bird unit, but that meant I had to leave something out. So I traded cardinals and ostriches for eagles and toucans this year. Our toucan craft was inspired by I Heart Crafty Things. Rachel even has a pattern you can print out! I made ours a little bit smaller because I wanted to cut two from one piece of paper. I drew a white line where the colored part of the toucan would be.

Instead of using tissue paper, we used torn construction paper. Our scrap bucket was overflowing, so I thought this would be a good way to use it up. I had a couple helpers this morning.

The kids glued on two colors of paper, one by the eye and one for the throat.

Then they added blue feet and a large neon wiggle eye. The paper plate beaks were decorated with oil pastels. (I liked Rachel's idea of watercolors, but we had just watercolored a plate for our hummingbirds, so I wanted to do something different.) And I loved the idea of tracing a hand for a tail! Oh, and we also used black torn paper to make a wing.

I had also mentioned to the kids that they could put some colored paper near the bottom, but they all forgot. Oh well. They still turned out great!

I just love those little tails! So stinkin' cute!!

Thanks, I HEART CRAFTY THINGS!

Fun Fact: Toucans croak like a frog and are one of the noisiest birds in the jungle!