Penguins are fascinating.
To me- an adult- and also to my kids. There’s something so interesting (and adorable!) about penguins. Which is why we decided to do a home preschool unit all about them!
Each day, we normally do 4 things during our home preschool time:
- Sing a song
- Read a story
- Do a craft
- Do an extra activity (usually a movement or play-based activity)
This week, everything was penguin themed! I can’t wait to show you what we did.
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Download the preschool plans
These plans include all of the songs, stories, crafts, and penguin preschool activities that we did during the week. The first page in a visual guide. You can click on each picture to see the activity.
The second page is a printer-friendly version that includes links and a supply list for the week.
You can grab both pages by clicking on the button below:
Preschool Planner
Be sure to check out the preschool planner I’ve created for moms like you to plan fun preschool-at-home activities with your kids! It’s available as a digital file or a spiral bound planner, and they are both filled with tons of helpful checklists, guides, and planning pages:
Our penguin-themed home preschool unit:
Songs
Each day we start our preschool time with a song that we can move or dance around to. Here are the songs that we included in our penguin week:
Peter Penguin:
Miss Nina is the absolute best. I always start a new unit by checking to see if she has some songs on the topic, because they are always fantastic.
Waddle Waddle (Koo Koo Kanga Roo)
My kids are already fans of Koo Koo Kanga Roo, so they thought this video was funny. They enjoyed dancing and waddling around to it.
The Penguin Dance:
Both this video and the next one are different versions of the same song. We tried them both out.
The Penguin Dance (Moose Tube)
Videos
Since we were learning about penguins this week, I found a short, informational video to watch each day to learn a little bit more about these cool birds. Here are the ones that we watched:
Introduction to penguins
Meet 3 peculiar penguins
Gentoo penguins
Emperor penguins
After we watched the video about Emperor Penguins, we had fun measuring each kid to see whether they were taller or shorter than an adult penguin!
Stories
Here are the picture books that we read during our preschool penguin week.
National Geographic Kids: Penguins!
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Penguins (National Geographic Kids… |
$5.39 |
Buy on Amazon |
We decided to begin the week with nonfiction so that we could learn a little bit more about penguins.
Penguin Problems, by Jory John
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
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Penguin Problems (Animal Problems) |
$11.70 |
Buy on Amazon |
This is a silly story about a penguin who complains about everything. My kids think it’s hilarious when I read it in an exaggerated whiny voice.
A Penguin Story, by Antoinette Portis
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
A Penguin Story | $2.59 | Buy on Amazon |
This is a cute story about a penguin who gets tired of black and white, and sets off on a hunt to find some other color.
Tacky the Penguin, by Helen Lester
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Tacky the Penguin |
$7.49 |
Buy on Amazon |
Tacky the penguin is an absolute favorite of my kids. They think he is so funny, and they love the song that he sings. There are many Tacky stories, but this one- the first- is my favorite.
Crafts
Here are the penguin crafts that we enjoyed this week:
Paper plate penguin craft
Older kids can cut out their own pieces for this craft. For my 2 year old, I cut out the pieces and then he was able to paint, glue, and draw on eyes by himself.
Shape Penguin
I really liked this craft. I didn’t show my kids a picture first, but instead gave them a pile of shapes and asked them to name them. Then I told them to see if they could use all the shapes to make a penguin. It was sort of like a puzzle.
How to paint a penguin
If you’ve never done an art hub with your kids, definitely check out this youtube channel. They are all so much fun. This one was a simple painting, easy enough for my 5 year old to follow along and create something that legitimately looked like a penguin. My 2 year old also painted. His looked a little more “abstract” but he sure had fun!
P is for penguin craft
This craft was fun because we got to talk about the letter P and letter sounds while we were making it. My 5 year old has her letters and sounds down by now, but we had fun practicing “p….p…penguin!” with my 2 year old.
Activities
After sitting down for a craft, we like to do an activity that is hands-on, open ended play, or movement-based. Here’s what I came up with for our penguin week:
Penguin waddle
My kids loved this so much more than I thought they would. All I did was give them balloons (balls would work, too) and told them to put it between their knees and waddle around like a penguin. They had so much fun that they kept doing it throughout the rest of the day!
Pedro the penguin: A cosmic kids yoga adventure
Cosmic kids yoga adventures are perfect for getting a little movement in even when the weather is too cold to be outside for too long. The story makes it so kid-friendly and fun.
How do penguins stay dry? A penguin science experiment
This was all of our favorite activity of the week. It worked sooo well!
First, we folded the penguin picture in half, and colored half of it really well with pastels. Then we unfolded it, sprayed it with blue water, and watched to see what happened on each side.
Of course, the side that was colored didn’t absorb any of the water- just like a penguin’s feathers help keep its skin dry underneath.
I’m all about a good experiment, and this one was perfect for preK aged kids.
Roll-a-penguin playdough mat
Play dough is always a fun activity to pull out at the end of a busy week. This play mat looks like a really fun way to incorporate numbers and color recognition into your playtime.
We actually already own the board game Pengoloo. (Fantastic game for preschoolers- I cannot recommend it highly enough!) So we played the game and then used the little wooden penguins in our play dough time. The kids were so creative and decided to make nests for all the penguin eggs! Adorable.
| Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Blue Orange Games Pengoloo Award Winning… |
$26.99 |
Buy on Amazon |
Well, that’s it for our penguin preschool activities. We had so much fun doing this one. I hope you have as much fun as we did learning all penguins. Thanks for reading!
-Laura
Pin Penguin Preschool Activities:
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