Activities (primary- intermediate)
1. Read aloud Take a Trip to Antarctica by Keith Lye or Antarctica by Lynn Stone.
Antarctica is the coldest and iciest region in the world.Show the children Antarctica on the globe.
Point to the spot that marks the South Pole.
2.Penguin Shuffle Races With penguins, it is the dad's job to keep the unhatched egg from rolling off the rocky cliffs where the birds nest. For weeks, he carries the egg on top of his feet.
Here's an amusing indoor race that challenges kids to test their balancing skills, penguin style.
Each child needs a beanbag or Hacky Sack-style foot bag to serve as an egg.
Contestants stand side by side with their "eggs" on top of their feet.
When the race begins, players try to shuffle across the room without dropping their eggs.
The first one to succeed wins.
3. Highlights for Children January 1991 has an article by Jennifer Owings Dewey called "Up to My Neck in Antarctica". She wrote the book Birds of Antarctica: The Adelie Penguins.
4.Highlights For Children January 1990 has a story called "Percival, the Pizza-Eating Penguin".
It was written by Diana Logue and Mary Skulavik.
5. Have children write and illustrate sentences beginning with as many "p" words as possible. E.g. Pretty penguins paraded past the post office. Perky penguins wore pyjamas to the party.
Playful penguins played the piano.
6. Penguin Waddle Relay Divide the group into two teams. Place half of each team behind lines 6 or 7 meters apart. Place a rubber ball( 15-20 cm) between the knees of the first two people in line and have them waddle like penguins to give the ball to their teammates behind the opposite line. The teammates then carry the balls back to the starting line and waddling continues until everyone has had a turn.If the ball is dropped, the penguin must go back to his/her starting point and begin again. The winning penguins are the ones that can waddle the fastest without losing the ball.
7.Using the word PENGUIN, how many words can you make from it? Work with a friend. Use the timer. Set it for 5 minutes. Who has the longer list?
8. Find out about two famous Antarctic expeditions. Tell who, what, where, when and how. Tape record the things you find out about the expeditions.
9. Draw a good picture of a penguin.
10. Draw a globe. Label the place where the penguins live.
11. Read a story about penguins. Write about two facts that you learned from the story.
12. What other animals live in the Antarctic with the penguins?
Make a list and draw pictures of some of them.
13. Story Starters! -Your best friend, Ed, is an emperor penguin. Write about your Antarctic adventures with Ed. -Curious Althea stayed on an iceberg as it floated out to sea and... -Huddling together while keeping the eggs warm, the males were bored. One had the idea to... -You've been feeding at sea and return to meet your new chick. Describe the moment.
14. Crossing the Ice Relay Each team has two pieces of paper slightly larger that a player's foot. The papers represent ice floes. Using only their feet, players must push the papers forward to the goal. If a player steps onto the floor instead of the paper, he has fallen into the water and must start again.
15. Help students understand the responsibility of parenting by giving each an egg to care for. Set aside a whole day for the project, presenting each student with a hard- boiled egg with his or her name on it, as soon as the school day begins. Explain to the class that each student's job on this day is to be a responsible parent. Remind them that they must remain in contact with their charges at all times; let them devise their own creative means for maintaining that contact. At the end of the day, check for cracks. Anyone whose egg is completely intact may not be ready to head for Antarctica, but he or she certainly passed this parenting test. This is an activity that will rightfully generate a few snickers, but be sure that students recognize the serious side of the experiment. Discuss what sacrifices students were forced to make to take care of their eggs.
Were there times when the job seemed boring or unrewarding?
16. Have each student imagine having a penguin for a pet and write about it.
17. To celebrate and culminate a penguin unit, have a Black and White Day. Plan a penguin performance. Make and send invitations. Share projects completed during the unit, perform songs, read poems and enjoy simple refreshments with parents, another class, or the school staff.
18. Bring in a stuffed penguin toy to class.
Decide as a class what to call it. Give each child an opportunity to bring the penguin home for the night. While it is at their house suggest that parents and children write about what the child does with the penguin. You might want to make a journal and entitle each page "______'s (penguin's name) Adventures/Visit at __________'s Home(child's name)".
19. Have the children write a letter to a penguin in the Antarctic.
20. Make an accordion mini book about the food that penguins like to eat.
21. Paint a picture of penguins having fun.
22. Use playdough to model a penguin family.
Play Dough Recipe
1 Cup flour
1 Cup water (with 2 Tbsp food coloring mixed in)
¼ Cup salt
2 Tbsp cream of tarter (found in the spice section)
1 Tbsp baby oil (this smells great and won't go rancid)
Mix together in sauce pan.
Cook over med. heat until it all clumps together.
Put on cutting board to cool.
Knead when cool to touch. Keep in ziploc bag.
23. Use black and white scrap construction paper to make a penguin.
24. Draw a picture of a penguin porpoising.
25. Draw a picture of penguins tobogganing. Make up names for each penguin.
26. Paint a picture of a mother and father penguin teaching their baby to do something.
27. Paint an iceberg. Draw some penguins diving off the iceberg.
28. Pretend you are a penguin. Draw your favorite meal.
29. Make a penguin bookmark for a friend.
30. Eat a penguin snack. krill (a Ritz cracker with cream cheese and tiny shrimp on top), starfish sandwiches (sandwiches cut with a starshaped cookie cutter filled with tuna salad) Finally some goldfish crackers. BE SURE TO CHECK WITH PARENTS TO MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO CHILDREN WITH ALLERGIES TO SEAFOOD!!! Some children cannot even be in the same room where there is seafood.
31.Make a penguin finger puppet Take empty film canisters and cut the lid in half. Glue the lid halves to each side to make wings. Cut an oval piece of white paper or fun foam for the belly. Add wiggle eyes and orange for a beak. You can also make a neat scene for the penguins. Take a blue piece of paper and paint a snow scene.
32. Make a "favorite penguin book" graph. After you read all your penguin books, have the class choose their favorite, mark with a penguin or fish shaped paper, or even fish crackers.
33. Writing Activity: Draw a picture of a penguin on top of an iceberg. This penguin has just done something wonderful. He feels like he is on top of the world. Write about the last time you did something wonderful. did you feel like you were on top of the world?
34. Penguin Art Activity -Materials needed for each penguin:6" paper plate, 9" paper plate, black and orange construction paper, black crayon Color the small paper plate black. Glue the two paper plates together to form the head and body. Cut and glue two orange circles for the eyes and three orange triangles for the feet and beak. Cut and glue two black ovals for the wings.
35. Penguin Poem.Fill in the blanks and then have them illustrate them and make them into a "Poem Book". Have them compose a penguin poem of their own.
Penguins play in the ocean, Penguins fish in the ________ (sea)
Penguins lay their eggs In a stony __________(lee)
Penguins find a mate A build a _________.(nest)
They work hard And then they ________.(rest)
Penguins play in the ocean, Penguins slide in the _________. (ice)
I think penguins Are very __________. (nice)
Penguins like the ice. Penguins like the _________.(snow)
Penguins don't mind When the cold winds ___________.(blow)
When a penguin's hungry, He eats ________.(fish)
He doesn't need a fork. He doesn't need a ________.(dish)
Penguins are black. Penguins are _______. (white)
Penguins are the color Of day and _______. (night)
Penguin Bookmarks
Materials for each child :tongue depressor, two black pompoms,one white pompom,small scraps of orange and black felt, two small wiggle eyes, glue, markers Glue a black,then white, then black pompom down in a row at the top of the tongue depressor. On the top black pompom, glue on a small orange triangle( from the felt) for a beak.Then add the two wiggle eyes. On the white pompom, glue on two small ovals that have been cut from the black felt. This will be the wings. On the bottom black pompom add two small triangles (cut form the orange felt) at the bottom of the pompom for the feet. On the remaining part of the tongue depressor, the child can write something like "Reading is Cool!" , "This is where I Chilled Out!" , or "This Little Penguin is Saving my Spot!"
Penguin Feathers
Penguin's feathers are small stiff feathers that overlap each other to help
keep out the freezing winds and water. There are about 70 of them per square
inch. Give each child a half page of 1 inch graph paper and have them draw 70 feathers in a square. They should record the actual number they fit in a square. They may need to try several times to get 70 in one square. It's a fun challenge but it may be a little difficult for youger students.
Penguin Calls
Penguins have special voices or calls to find their families in their world of look-alikes. When parents return from the sea with food, they call out for their young with this call and mates find each other at the beginning of mating season this way. This is a noisy activity, but fun!
Label strips of paper (one per student) with fictitious penguin calls like "Tee, Tee, Teeeee", " Kaa, Kaa, Kaaaaaa" "Goo,Goo, Goooooo" in sets of 3, if possible(to simulate a penguin family:mother,father, young chick) for the same call. Have the kids pick strips, mix them up and have them make their calls to find each other. Once a group is complete they should sit down on the side.
Some Penguin-related words and definitions
- you can create a large definition book for the class, or if they are older they can make their own books. Words can be added as the theme progresses.
tobogganing- a fast way for penguins to travel on land
creche- many penguin chicks squeezing together to stay warm
krill-small pink shellfish that are a favorite food of penguins
rookery-a place where penguins gather and build their nests
brood pouch-a pouch of skin where some penguins store their eggs
molting-when a penguin loses its old feathers as it grows new ones
porpoising-when penguins "pop" out of the water to breathe
while swimming
waddling-the way a penguin walks.
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