This owl valentine post was first published on January 31, 2012.  It's still a favorite Valentine's Day craft so I decided to share it again!  Hope you have a great Valentine's Day!  

A couple years ago I made this heart-shaped owl Valentine for my husband.
I knew my craft-loving daughter (then 3) would also love to make an owl from hearts.  Later that year, I paired the owl craft with a favorite library book of ours called Owl Babies.  (I am thrilled to say that we have since added this to our home library.)  To this day, this is still one of my favorite crafts.



I choose to make the shape owl using only hearts (except the paper reinforcer eyes), but you could use just triangles or circles if your focus is on a different shape.  This could also be a great way to review all of the shapes with a young child by using a combination of hearts, triangles, circles, and ovals.

Gather your materials:
Glue
Large heart (pictured in purple) ~body
2 medium hearts (pictured in orange) ~head outline
2 medium hearts (pictured in purple) about 1/2 inch smaller than the other medium hearts ~head
2 small hearts (pictured in yellow) ~ talons
1 tiny heart (pictured in yellow) ~beak
2 paper reinforcers ~ eyes
2 small ovals or circles (not pictured above but used in final project) ~ eyes

To make the owl craft, explain to child what each heart (or shape) will be, and ask where it should go on the owl's body.  I do suggest keeping the eyes very close to the heart-beak for more of an "owl look."  Also, if the hearts are upside down for the talons, it gives the appearance of toes.  You may want to use the picture below or above for reference.  If making this as a Valentine, you could add a line like, "Whooo loves you?"

Please note:
~The shape owl I made uses two hearts for the body.
~Both of our owls used paper reinforcers for eyes, but the owl I made used small hearts.  These eyes appear much larger on the smaller body.

This was my daughter's heart-shaped owl!  (Of course, the glue did dry clear.)