Winterbird collage project

This week I'm getting ready for an ornament workshop with a crew of 4th graders to be hosted over at the Northern Liberties Community Center/NLArts. One of the ideas I came up with was a "Winter Birds" ornament. I've drawn 7 different birds that are commonly seen in Pennsylvania during the winter months, including blue jays, chickadees (both shown below), sparrows, red-breasted woodpeckers, cardinals, titmice, and the ever-present pigeon. We'll use the bird templates I've made and magazine collage paper to create colorful birds with a small clothespin to attach them to a tree.

Start with a piece of rectangular cardstock (I used cereal boxes) that is slightly larger than the template, find magazine images that fit the coloring of each bird (look for interesting textures), and glue magazine pieces to both sides of cardstock with a gluestick, trace template onto magazine/card sandwich and cut out. Extra collage elements can be added on to make birds more dimensional or detailed.Use white glue or hot glue to attach bird to small spring-clothespin.

To see all 7 birds and get the templates click here for a pdf. I've never offered a pdf before-I hope this works!
I'm intending this for 4th graders (they should have decent scissor skills), but even my 6th grader thought this was a fun project.