Recently I opened a local art studio here in Tucson—it’s called the Tucson Art Lab. It has been my dream for years to have such a place. We will be offering classes, workshops, camps, and art-themed birthday parties at my art lab.
To kick things off, we held a birthday party to celebrate a little girl who was turning 5. She loves owls and art (my kind of girl!). She and 10 of her friends/family came to a private party at the Art Lab, where we had fun making owl-themed art. This owl-themed art party was so much fun I thought I’d share with you all what we did, in case you would also like to throw an owl-themed (art) birthday party!
I hope you’ll find something here to spark a bit of inspiration for a beautiful party for your special birthday child!
Owl-Themed Birthday Party: Coloring Pages
I knew that families would arrive at different times, and I wanted to have something calm and quiet that the children could work on so parents could settle in and wait for all the guests to arrive.
So, I designed owl interactive coloring pages for the occasion. I gave them out to each child as they arrived at the party. Teachers and parents love my interactive coloring pages because I have created a unique activity that allows children to truly be the artists of their work. With my interactive designs, no two pages will ever be the same.
I now offer these pages in my Teachers Pay Teachers store if you’d like to also use them with your guests.
Owl-Themed Birthday Party: Owl Paintings
Once everyone had arrived, I started on the primary activity of drawing and painting an owl on canvas. The children followed along as I walked them, step by step, through the instructions. We used 11” x 14” canvas. I used directed drawing to have the children first paint the outline of their owl using a light orange color. This allowed me to move through the steps, and if someone messed up, they could come in later and fix it. It was also a color that was light enough for the children to cover up.
If you want to have your guests do this project at your own owl-themed birthday party, I have the complete step-by-step directed drawing breakdown of exactly how to draw an owl on my blog HERE.
One of the great things about this project was that it worked for a variety of ages. There were children ages 5 to 13 at this owl-themed birthday party. Each was successful with their painted owls—because I broke down the steps and kept it simple for them.
The children did such a great job listening to me as I went through, step by step, how to paint their owls. The adults were great too. They listened along and didn’t talk over us, so the children could hear my instructions—which was nice.
However, this was a birthday party so I didn’t just want to stand in front of the children the entire time and instruct them. I wanted the parents and adults to come and interact with their children while they made their art, so…
…after I had broken down the step-by-step of how to paint the owl onto the canvas, I let the children paint their owl however they wanted.
Owl-Themed Birthday Party: Tips and Tricks!
Although I let the children paint their owls however they wanted, here are some tips that you might find helpful if you are going to use this owl-themed birthday party idea.
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- Paper Plate Palettes: To distribute the paint easily, I set out a bunch of paper plates and put small amounts of each color onto the plates. I then distributed these to all of the artist-guests. Then, when the children were finished with their work, I just threw away the plates—easy cleanup!
- Acrylic Paint: I had given the children acrylic paint to use (because the final results are so much more dynamic on canvas). Acrylic paint doesn’t come out of clothing, so I had them all use an apron to protect their clothing. I also told them they had to be very careful with the paint. (it worked!)
- Working from Light to Dark: Another tip I shared with the children was designed to help to keep their water (for brush rinsing) and paintings clean. I asked them to work first with light colors and then move on to darker ones. For example, they would start by painting areas of the painting that would be yellow, then orange, and work through until they added darker colors like blue and purple. This keeps things nicer and the colors crisper, and you can change the rinse water less often with this system.
- Water Cups: Each child had a cup of water (in a simple plastic cup). Inside the cups, I had a small rock at the bottom. This was to keep the cup of water from spilling—and I’m happy to announce that we didn’t have any spills. Anyone with small children will know that’s a small miracle.
- Replacement Water: I also had cups of water set aside as replacements, so as the cups of water got too dirty, I could switch them out easily with clean water instead of having to empty and refill them all as the children were working.
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I love how each child made their owl unique and how they each took their time and didn’t rush through their work.
Supplies
If you’d like to see the supplies I used for these paintings. You can see my links below. *Please note that the links on my site that take you to Amazon are affiliate links (see disclosure Here).
Freebie: If you would like my FREE step-by-step how-to-draw-an-owl handout (to print and use at your party), you can get that by joining my email list. This free handout is also available on TPT HERE.
I love to spoil teachers, parents, and administrators who sign up for my emails by sending exclusive freebies, tips, and tricks, as well as special announcements of sales. Not to mention, after you join, you’ll get invited to my “Subscribers Library” of freebies like my owl coloring Freebie.
It’s easy. Simply sign up below (under “share and save”), and you’ll get my free ebook sent right to your inbox (check your spam folder if you don’t see it).
Then a few days later, you’ll get information on accessing my subscriber-only library, where you can download this freebie (along with many others). In the meantime, you can enjoy my free ebook content.
Owl-Themed Birthday Party: Book
In my art lessons, I always try to connect art with literature or picture books. For this party, I selected the book Owl Moon by Jane Yolen to read to the children (while coloring). This book is a lovely story about a little girl who goes “owling” with her father. It’s a nice story and has beautiful illustrations of owls.
You can find it on Amazon HERE.
Owl-Themed Birthday Party: Decorations
The art lessons were, of course, the main part of the birthday party. However, having owl-themed decorations really pulled it all together.
Signs in Frames: An easy way to decorate is just to put your signs in simple frames. For this party, we did that for the gift table and throughout the space.
Water Bottles with Label Wraps: A really simple and easy way to spruce up the decorations is to remove the labels from the water bottles and replace them with something pretty —and in your theme. You can make these yourself or buy them online. Teachers Pay Teachers actually has some owl-themed bottle wraps already created. Check them out HERE.
Bags to Carry Everything Home: I also had the children write their names on a white bag. We did this at the beginning while they were coloring their owl interactive coloring pages. I purchased the bags from Amazon HERE. This was especially important because I knew they would have wet canvas paintings to carry home. These bags allowed the children to put everything they made at the party in the bag to take it all home safely (that is, without getting paint all over the car!).
It was a lot of fun (for the kids and myself)—a hoot, in fact—to make art with the children during this owl-themed birthday party!
If you decide to have your own owl-themed birthday party and use any of the ideas from my post, I’d love to see what you do. You can tag me on your favorite social media channels using the handle @artwithjennyk or the hashtag #artwithjennyk. You’ll find me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.
Thank you for reading, and as always, thanks for making art with your kids!
Jenny K.
*Art with Jenny K. participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
