Here’s an adorable LEGO® owl to build – turn a knob on his back, and his head turns!

Aidan and I built this owl by modifying a design that we saw in a LEGO owl project done by Rice University.  Their owls also flap their wings when you turn the knob!  We decided to simplify things a little and just do a moving head, although our wings are still posable.  We patterned the colors after the markings on Great Horned Owls – my favorite type of owl.

LEGO Owls Building Instructions

Gresham designed a baby owl to go with the mother or father owl, and they look adorable together.

(Side note:  My parents’ neighbors have had a family of screech owls living in an owl box in their tree.  They feed the owls mice, which the mother and father both catch and kill and give to the babies.  It was fascinating to see them.  Now that they have established a nest at this box, they will continue to come back year after year.  Makes me want to put an owl box in our yard!)

LEGO Owls Building Instructions

So WHOOOOOO’s ready to make one?

I usually start instructions with the head, but we’re going to start with the body this time.  I don’t know why, but it just seemed like a good idea.

Step 1:  Build the feet.  Each foot has a 2 x 3 gray plate, a 1 x 3 brown plate, a 1 x 2 brown plate, and three claws.  You will also need a 2 x 4 brick to keep the body from tipping over.

LEGO Owls

Step 2:  Attach the feet and the 2 x 4 brick to the bottom of some round pieces as shown.

LEGO Owls

Step 3:  Flip it over and add a 4 x 4 plate.

LEGO Owls

Step 4:  Add more brown plates around the 4 x 4 plate as shown, but on the back use a 1 x 4 brick instead of a plate.  The black piece will hold the rod used to turn the head.  It’s a turntable, 4 x 4 square base, and it is LEGO® part #61485.  Here is a link to order it on Brick Link.  (I prefer Brick Link over the Pick-A-Brick section on lego.com because your order will arrive much more quickly!)

If you don’t have the turntable piece, check your pieces to find something with a round hole in the center.

LEGO Owls

Step 5:  Pieces added in this step:  four 1 x 2 inverted slopes, two 1 x 4 bricks on front, two 1 x 4 bricks on the side, and two 1 x 4 plates just behind the black piece.

LEGO Owls

Step 6:  These are the pieces we used to build the knob.

LEGO Owls

Step 7:   Slide the gear, then the 1 x 2 Technic brick, then the Technic bush, then the knob onto the black Technic axle (4 studs long).  Attach this to the owl.

LEGO Owls

Step 8:  Cover the knob mechanism with two 1 x 2 bricks and a 1 x 4 plate.

LEGO Owls

Step 9:  Add another gear and another Technic axle.  This one is 10 studs long.

LEGO Owls

Step 10:  Add four 2 x 4 bricks to the back of the owl.
LEGO Owls

Step 11:  Add a 2 x 4 brick and a 2 x 4 plate on each side of the owl.

LEGO Owls

Step 12:  From here, just build up the body of the owl.  You can see that we added a 4 x 4 round plate with a round hole in the middle to support the axle that will turn the head.  Make sure that your round plate has a round hole and not an x shaped hole – otherwise it won’t turn.

LEGO Owls

Step 13:  This is how our owl looked when the body was complete.

LEGO Owls

Step 14:  Gather a 4 x 4 round brick and the tiles shown to build the neck.

LEGO Owls

Step 15:  Add the 4 x 4 round brick.  Again, it should have a round hole.

LEGO Owls

Step 16:  Add the tiles.  The owl’s head is going to sit right on the body, so the tiles will allow the head to turn easily.

LEGO Owls

Step 17:  The photo below shows how we attached the wings using a piece with a handle and a piece with clips.

LEGO Owls

Step 18:  Build the head.  Start with these pieces – all plates (flat bricks).

LEGO Owls

Step 19:  Add a layer of bricks as shown.  Note the these bricks aren’t really attached to each other yet.

LEGO Owls

Step 20: Add two 1 x 1 bricks in the front and two 1 x 1 bricks with a stud on the side.  The 1 x 2 with one stud and the yellow slope will be the beak.

LEGO Owls

Step 21:  Add another layer of bricks.  Two more 1 x 1 bricks with a stud on the side will hold the eyes.

LEGO Owls

Step 22:  Add a layer of brown bricks to the head.

LEGO Owls

Step 23:  Add slopes on both sides and another layer of brown bricks.

LEGO Owls

Step 24:  On the very top of the head I used more plates, and two of them had round corners.  Then a 4 x 4 plate centered on top of the head and some slopes as “horns.”

LEGO Owls

Step 25:  Each eye is a 4 x 4 white round plate and a 2 x 2 black round plate.  I attached two 1 x 1 round plates to the studs where the eyes will go so that they don’t bump into the piece that holds the nose.

LEGO Owls

Step 26:  Attach the head to the rod sticking out of the body. The rod will go through the round brick in the bottom of the head.

LEGO Owls

Isn’t he adorable?  We have all had so much fun playing with him and making him turn his head!

LEGO Owls

Here’s a view from the back:

LEGO Owls

And a view with the baby:

LEGO Owls

I am sharing this project as part of LEGO week – a collaborative effort with several awesome bloggers!  I’ll be back each day this week with more fun LEGO® ideas!

Be sure to check out the rest of the LEGO week ideas!

LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO® group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this site.

LEGO Owls Building Instructions

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  2. KristofP Oct 24, 2016

    Hi

    I love the owl and the kid owl. Do you have the parts numbers?

    I'm becoming for a first time a father and I would love to make this for in the childs room. Can you help me with the parts numbers and the whole instruction manual?

    Reply
    1. Sarah Nov 23, 2016

      I don't have the parts numbers - it would be extremely time consuming to track down the parts number for every piece used! There is no instruction manual either. This was just a design that we built ourselves. Sorry!

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