You have come to the right place if you are looking for fun, engaging and exciting Penguin themed activities to do with toddlers, preschoolers and kindergartners. Our activities are used by teachers, moms, dads, child care providers and more!

All our activities are available at no cost and are free to print and share. Select below to get started.

Penguin Arts and Crafts

Penguin Shape
Cut out penguin shapes from black paper. Paint with Epsom Salts diluted in water. It makes the penguin look frosty.

Paper Bag or Film Canister Puppets
For the paper bag puppets you simply use a penguin pattern. For the film container puppet you need: 1 film container per child: black with a black lid, white felt circle cut to size for the film container wiggle eyes , orange craft foam (cut out feet and beak)

Directions:
I made these myself with the hot glue gun.
First, cut the lid in half. Cut a circle or oval shape out of white felt to fit the front of the film container and hot glue it in place.

The wiggle eyes are glued on the top (the hole of the container is down so the child place it on their fingers.)

The beak (orange foam triangle) is glued under the eyes, and the feet on the bottom. The lid halves are glued on each side of the container to stick out slightly.

Penguin Costume
Use a grocery bag and orange construction paper to turn into a penguin! Slit the front of the bag from top to bottom. Cut a neck hole in the bottom of the bag. Cut wing shaped flaps in the sides. Color the bag black and white to resemble a penguin.

Form a cone from a triangular piece of orange construction paper. Staple it together and punch a hole in each side. Tie a 12 inch piece of string through each hole. Place the cone over your nose like a beak and tie the strings together at the back of your head.

Now put on the bag and have a Penguin Parade!

Penguin Materials
6″ X 9″ white and black construction paper, one of each per child
Black and yellow markers
Scissors
Glue or stapler

What to do:
Trace the child’s shoe on the white paper and have the child cut out, helping if necessary. This will be Penguin’s body.

Fold the black paper in half so it measures 6 X 4.5″. Trace the child’s hand with wrist on the fold. Cut out. these will be the wings.

Glue or staple the black wings (folded lengthwise) around the penguins body on each side (kinda over the top of the head and down the sides). Draw eyes and beak with black and yellow markers.

More to do: Glue the penguin on blue paper and use finger tips to print with white paint to create snow all around the penguin.

Paper Plate Penguins
Color or sponge paint the head and flippers black, the feet and beak orange-yellow, and the bow tie any color or design. Cut out these pieces. Glue the head to the back of a six inch paper plate. Glue the flippers near the head, before attaching the feet.

Attach the beak and two eye cutouts. Glue on the bow tie cutout. Use a black crayon to color a narrow strip around the exposed plate rim except where it meets the penguins feet.

These penguins make an eye catching bulletin board when they are stacked in a pyramid configuration.

 

Penguin Games and Activities

Penguin Facts
Penguins:
Do not fly, they hop, walk, or toboggan
Are expert divers and swimmers
Have thick layer of fat called blubber under skin
Do not build nests. The female lays egg, males hold egg on the top of their feet, hunches down so skin covers and warms the egg.
Raise their chicks in colonies called rookeries
There may be thousands of penguins in one rookery

Motor Development
Lie down on your stomachs on scooter boards and pretend to be penguins sledding along the ice.

Fun with Penguins
Make penguin costumes from black and white bulletin board paper (like a large black collar that slips over the head with a white oval on front) and orange beak headbands from poster board. Cover several small white boxes with white paper to be ice bergs. Place them around on the carpet.

Then take a rocking’ boat and turn it over on the step side, cover it with white paper to be the ice cliff, and place it at the front of the carpet. As the music plays, the children climb the steps, dive off into the water, and swim around the ice bergs gobbling up fish.

Creative Movement
Ask the children to waddle, jump, slip, slide and dive like penguins. Be sure to allow plenty of space for them to move around freely and safely. (You may want to use a large floor mat for protection.)

Penguin Waddle Relay
Divide the class into 2 teams. place half of each team behind lines 6 to 8 yards apart. Place a 6 to 8 inch rubber ball between the knees of the first two people in line and watch 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 the waddling continues until everyone has had a turn. If the ball is dropped, the penguin must goback to his/her starting point and begin again. The winning penguins are the ones that can waddle the fastest without losing the ball.

Penguin Day
Ask your students to come to school wearing black and white.

Science
You’ll need: large pan of frozen water, small items from classroom such as blocks, crayon, and pencil. Talk about where penguins live and the type of climate they need to survive. Show children the pan filled with ice.

Let them try to move the blocks and other small items around on the ice so they can feel the cold the penguins need to survive. Slide the items across the ice then across the desk, carpet and other surfaces.

Compare the results.

Number Recognition, Counting
You’ll need: black ink pad, crayons, white paper. Fold the paper into six sections. Write a number from one to six in each section. Ask the children to put as many thumb prints in each section as the number asks for. Use crayons to turn the thumb print into a penguin. Now practice counting aloud.

Hold a number card aloft and work cooperatively to form rookeries (penguin living group) containing that number. Be seated and create a rookery of a different number.

Penguin Habitat
Buy some little rubber penguins at a nature store and fill a 9×13 pan with snow and build a penguin habitat. Build nests out of rocks (pebbles). The really do make their nests out of rocks.

Penguin Central
On white construction paper, photocopy a penguin. Color, laminate, and cut out each penguin. Label each penguin belly with a number. Provide fish-shaped crackers for students to use in this center. To use the center, a student places the penguin cards face up and places the corresponding number of fish shaped crackers on each penguin belly.

 

Penguin Recipes and Snacks

Penguin Snack
1 slice of bread per child, spread cream cheese over top. Use 1/2 black olives for eyes (or raisins), wedge of carrot for beak, chopped black olives for wings.

Penguin Cookies
Ingredients:
1 chocolate sandwich cookie per child
1 chocolate kiss per child
Have students wash their hands. Give each child a napkin, cookie, and chocolate kiss. They twist the top off of their cookie and carefully break it in half.

They place the two pieces on top of the bottom half with the icing side up and spread a little out for wings. Then they place the chocolate kiss at the top for the penguins head.

Snack
You’ll need: vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, small bowls or cups, spoons, whipped cream.

Scoop some ice cream into a bowl and let the children add their own black and white toppings. Stop eating- if you can- and feel the cold sensation in your mouth.

 

Penguin Songs, Poems and Finger Plays

Penguin Parade
Waddle, waddle, waddle
From side to side.
Penguins go a-walking
Slip, slip, slide.
With a funny jump

The penguins dash Down to the water Splash! Splash! Splash!

Waddle from the water With a rock’n roll Penguins go parading On a wintry stroll.

Penguin Thoughts
Have you ever seen penguins in picture books?
I always smile when I see their looks.
They look like men in their fancy suits,
All black and white from head to boots.
I often wonder when it snows,
Do they freeze their little penguin toes?
Do they shiver and shake in their land of ice?
Sitting on icebergs CAN’T BE NICE!

Six Little Penguins
Their suits are black and their vests are white.
They waddle to the left and they waddle to the right.
They stand on the ice and they look very neat,
As they waddle along on their little flat feet.
Six little penguins off an iceberg did dive,
One bumped his beak, then there were five.
Five little penguins swam the ocean floor,
One saw a whale, then there were four.
Four little penguins spun around, whee-ee!
One spun off, then there were three!
Three little penguins, with nothing to do,
One went fishing, then there were two.
Two little penguins, having lots of fun,
One fell off, then there was one.
One little penguin, when the day was done,
Went home to sleep, then there were none.

I Know A Little Penguin
(Tune: “I’m a LittleTeapot”)
I know a little penguin
Who sat on some blocks,
He swam in the ocean
And he climbed on some rocks!
He snapped at a seagull,
He snapped at a seal,
He snapped at a fish,
Oh, what a meal!

On Top Of An Iceberg
(Tune: “On Top of Old Smoky”)
On top of an iceberg,
All covered with snow,
I saw my first penguin
And I wanted to know.
Oh is it a bird,
Or is it a fish?
I looked at his feathers,
And knew which was which.
I said, “Mr. Penguin,
Which species are you?”
He said, “I’m an emperor,
And not a gentoo.”
I said, “Mr. Penguin,
What’s under you patch?”
He said, “It’s an egg,
It’s ready to hatch!”
I said, “Mr. Penguin,
Oh, where is your wife?”
“She’s out in the ocean,
She’ll be back tonight.”
Said Mr. Penguin,
“Her name is Jill.
She’s out in the ocean,
Feeding on krill.”
The next thing I knew,
I heard a small peep.
And I saw a chick,
At the emperor’s feet!

 

 

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