BEST PRACTICE
P-p-p-play like a Penguin!
Celebrate World Penguin Day with themed activities that encourage both fine and gross motor skills, problem-solving, planning and creative movement
Penguins have intrigued humans for decades. Flightless birds primed for living in extreme temperatures, numerous documentaries and films have been penned about their lives – including Happy Feet and March of the Penguins!
With World Penguin Day coming up on Thursday 25 April, we’ve put together some fun activities that help to teach little ones about these fascinating flightless birds and their habitat, while also building on a range of skills and learning characteristics.
Rock hopping
Pretend to be a rockhopper penguin hopping with feet together from ‘rock’ to ‘rock’ (paper, pillows, or plates laid out on the ground). Then have fun hopping, jumping, and skipping on your ‘rocks’ - ask the children to think of some more ways they can travel across the ‘rocks’.
Penguin waddle
Blow up some balloons to mimic penguin eggs and have the children see how far they can waddle with the balloon safely tucked between their legs (you could even build up to a race!). Talk about why they’re doing this: penguins huddle in the cold and keep the eggs between their feet/legs to keep them warm and stop them touching the frozen ground. Why might they need to keep the eggs warm?
Penguin yoga
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 child-friendly and fun – bit.ly/penguin-yoga
Science experiment
How do penguins stay dry? Science experiment with different materials and water.
Playdough penguins
Print out and laminate some penguin outlines, giving children one each along with some balls of different coloured playdough. Using rolling pins, encourage the children to roll out the balls of playdough to fill each different penguin section. The process and focus on growing gross motor skills are key here, as opposed to the final result.
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 habitat
With some little penguins (you can either purchase or create your own simple paper models), fill a 9×13 pan with snow and build a penguin habitat together – what sort of things do you think penguins would use? – and then build nests out of rocks (pebbles). Why might they create piles of rocks?
Penguin stories
Lost and Found and Up and Down, both by Oliver Jeffers, is great for shared reading as a group; roleplay story in pairs with slightly older children.
Where in the world?
Did you know that you will never find polar bears and penguins together in the wild? Use a globe (as big as you can get, there are some great blow-up ones), blue tack, penguin figures and polar bear figures to stick on each pole. Why might this be?
Junk modelling
Make penguins from household ‘junk’ – what should we make sure we include? Remember that learning comes from the process and not the finished product, so allow children to be messy, to make mistakes, and to use their imagination, while also encouraging basic features (i.e. black and white colouring, beaks, wings).