You have come to the right place if you are looking for fun, engaging and exciting Whale 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.
Whale Arts and Crafts
Whale Fun Give cutout shapes of whales to each child. Make plenty of decoration supplies available, such as glitter, markers, dry noodles, etc. Have each child decorate the whale however they want, and give each whale a name. Hang the whales from the ceiling around the room.
Lace Whales
Make your own cutouts of whales, laminate, and punch holes for students to lace with yarn.
Whale Games and Activities
Initiating Activity
Tell students you are going to play a sound for them and that you want them to try to identify it. Play a recording of a whale singing (either a previously recorded copy or, while hiding the monitor from students, one of the songs that is available on the Song of the Whale website).
If students cannot guess that it is a whale, give them hints until they guess (the sound is made by an animal, the animal is a mammal, the animal lives in the ocean, etc.). Explain that you played the whale song because the class is starting a new unit on whales.
Next, make a list of the types of whales that the class presently knows (killer whales, humpback whales, etc.) and post the list in the classroom.
Whale Charting
Help the students make a chart comparing sizes of the different types of whales. Try to make the drawings to scale as much as possible so that students can see the relative sizes of the different types of whales and see which whales are the largest, the smallest, etc.
Life-sized Whale
Have students pick one of the smaller or medium-sized whales (not the 100-foot blue whale!). Have students research how long a female whale of that type would be and how long a newborn calf of that type would be. Supervise students as they draw, cut out, and color a life-sized whale and newborn calf. Put the cutouts on the wall of the classroom.
Discussion Questions
1, Discuss the similarities and differences between whales and fish. Although they share the same environment, there are important differences between fish and whales. Consider the following questions:
a. How do they breathe?
b. How do they swim?
c. How are their young born?
d. What kind of skin do they have?
2. Using what you know about mammals, explain why whales are mammals.
3. Some species of whales are in danger of becoming extinct. Why do you think this is?
4. What are some things that can be done to prevent whales from becoming extinct?
Dear Reader: You can help us make this theme even better!
All of our theme ideas have come from our imagination and from reader submissions. Please use this form to contact us if you have crafts, activities, games, recipes, songs or poems that you would like us to add to this theme.
