Q is for Quail Craft

Spring is just about here. I love spring for many reasons, but among them is the fact that we see baby quail running around the backyard each spring. One year, we had a nest in our hydrangea bush. It was awesome. There are few things more adorable than a line of baby quail running along after their mommy.

I've been wanting to do a quail craft for a long time, but I finally made it a priority when a friend asked me for ideas for a craft for "Q" week at preschool. I went through all the kids' crafts I'd blogged about and arranged them by letter, seeing if I happened to have a Q already. Nope. But going through all the posts did reveal a pretty good collection of A-Z kids' crafts. If you look up at the top of my blog, you can see I've added a page of kids' crafts from A-Z (or click here to go to the page). There are still seven empty letters, so expect to see some umbrella and yak crafts in the near future.

Here's the quail I made.

Steve walked in while I was photographing the finished quail and said, "Hey, the Partridge Family!" I immediately googled to look at the logo... sure enough, all I need is a little Keith, Laurie, Danny, Chris and Tracy following Mama Shirley. Well, that and a different color scheme.

I was going for the California Valley Quail, our state bird and the first wild bird Trevor was able to recognize when he was little.

Photo: Quality Quails

Here's how to make your own quail (or Partridge, if you prefer). Affiliate links below. 

Paper Quail

Materials:

• white and black cardstock (or construction paper)
• crayons
• pencil
• scissors
• feather
• craft glue
• googly eye

Cut a half-circle from white paper and color it blue, brown and grey.  We used watercolor paper since it has great texture with crayons.  Cut a teardrop shape for the wing and color it brown.

Cut a rough half-circle from the black paper and glue it to the quail body.  Trim the excess, following the arc of the body.

Here are all the pieces you'll cut from black.  In addition to the face, you need two legs, a beak, and a topknot.

Glue all the paper features in place, then add a real feather for a tail.  Here's Trevor's finished quail.  I love how it turned out.

Happy Q Week, to all who celebrate!