I have to admit, I probably had time to write my post earlier this week, but I decided I NEEDED to sew a dress. Yes, and I wore it to church today, but it was so cold inside I wore a sweater the entire time, so no one saw my pretty new dress. WAAAHHHHHHH.
Okay, enough pouting. Now to relieve your wondering about the rat skull, for those who were wondering.
I picked 3 of these “Skeleton Pellets” (affiliate link) up at Hobby Lobby a few months ago and have been waiting for just the right time to let them have at it.
Now, these are not real owl pellets, nor is it a real skeleton (I discovered after buying them), but the plus side is you don’t have to worry about the kids remembering to wash their hands, and you know for sure it’s a complete skeleton.
I set them each up with a spot at the table and some bamboo skewers to pull it apart and observe the different parts in it.
Very quickly we discovered and decided the skewers were not necessary, because it came apart fairly easily (the gray outer material felt like dryer lint to me).
Than we spent some time carefully pulling everything off of the bones and talked about why the owl would spit all of this up.
And finally we looked at the bones and decided what parts of the animal it was, and what type of animal it was. The boys and Princess switched. She really wanted the bird one and they wanted the “rat,” though in reality it was a mole. I guess a mole is rather like a rat.
In theory we could have glued it onto a piece of cardstock and shown off our completed skeleton, but the kids were having way too much fun figuring it all out. And like I said, Superman carried around that silly skull in his pocket for several days. He wants to take it to the Nature Center so he can trade it in for another skull…….
Boys.
By the by, I’m loving that I can get emails now from linky tools whenever someone links up, which means I’ll be visiting everyone’s links sooner! I love hosting because I see so many great ideas, if you don’t take the time to visit all the links you truly are missing out on some amazing discoveries and ideas.
Perhaps I look for a similar kit when daughter is older. Right now she is back into her skeleton-phobia and has no interest in anything with skulls and bones.
OH, C would LOVE this!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, what do you think – is this a good substitute for a real owl pellet? I haven't had the courage to order the real thing, but at the same time I haven't been sure the fake ones would be as good.
I think it's a fairly good substitute. From what I remember of real ones, this one is easier to dissect, but it has all of the same essential elements.
I have two “genuine” owl pellets in storage for a project later this fall (if I get up the gumption to actually want to pull them apart with my kids). I'm beginning to think that the fake ones sound a lot more appealing.
I can't believe they make these! Awesome!!
I didn't realize that there was such a thing as fake owl pellets! Looks like the kids had a good time with it. I'm not a huge fan of skulls and bones, myself, but it is a good learning experience.