Penguin Chick Craft

I read in the news the other day that January 20th is Penguin Awareness Day, so I knew I wanted to make a penguin craft with the kids today. I've done a few penguin crafts in the past, but this time I decided to make a baby penguin. My goal was to make something that resembled this cutie:

(source)

I kind of used this coloring sheet as my template, but made it more symmetrical. I traced a body onto black paper. I cut out a white face, a black beak and black toes.

Then I made puffy paint by mixing glue and shaving cream and added in some white and black paint.

If I had to do it again, I wouldn't bother with puffy paint. The kids used porcupine balls to paint the body of the penguin and you can't really put it on thick when using those. It didn't dry puffy at all, so it wasn't necessary. They dabbed the ball all over to create a fuzzy-looking texture. I covered up the head with a paper towel so they wouldn't paint it, but I'm sure older kids wouldn't need that.

Then they dabbed on some plain white paint right over the gray paint.

Next it was time to glue on the white face and beak. We turned the paper upside down so they wouldn't have to lean over the wet paint. And because a black beak would have been lost on the black part of the face, I made them three dimensional by folding the paper before cutting them out.

Then wiggle eyes were glued on. When the paint was dry, I cut them out and the kids added toes to the bottom of their penguins. They turned out so much cuter than I imagined!

I love the crooked white face on my daughter's above. Totally adorable!

Fun Fact: When a penguin chick hatches, it immediately starts calling so its parents recognize its voice. This is important so that when the mother or father return after getting food, they can find their chick just by the sound of its voice.

Polar Animal Crafts

This past week my class studied polar animals. Since my crafts were mostly "reruns" that I tweaked a bit and ones I copied from other people, I thought I'd quickly show them all in one post. I will link back to my original posts if you would like further instructions.
I decided to add some color to our crafts this week. Some by choice, others not so much. First up is the penguin. I used this craft, but cut the body and flippers from all different colors of paper, just for fun.

When we learned about polar bears, I used a craft I found at Mrs. Nessman's blog. I loved it! The kids used crumpled up waxed paper to make ice for their polar bears. They did all the tearing and crinkling and gluing themselves. I had already cut out the polar bears for them. They just added eyes and noses with a black marker. So cute!

I think next time I might try having them watercolor the background before adding the waxed paper.
For our seal pup craft, I had planned on making the same craft we made last year, but I forgot my fake snowflakes at home. So instead I found colored sand and asked the kids if they would mind making colorful seal pups. Of course they loved the idea! So they painted with glue and sprinkled on the sand.

Then came the snowy owls. We used the same technique as our puffy paint owls, but we just used regular white paint instead of making puffy paint. The kids used little porcupine balls to stamp an owl shape on their paper.

And then they added yellow eyes and brown beaks. I was low on blue paper, so we had colorful backgrounds instead.

I love all the colors!

I added in one more polar bear craft that I found at Mrs. Payton's Precious Kindergarteners. We made huge polar bear paws! The average polar bear's paw is 12 inches across, so I got the biggest white paper I could find and drew a paw shape on it. Kind of like an oval, kind of like a rounded rectangle. The kids cut them out themselves.

 I cut the claws and paw pads out for them and they glued them on.

But I took this craft one step further and added their footprints!

Then, similar to when we studied gorillas and we made our hand prints on top of a gorilla's hand print, I asked the kids what they would do if they ever met a polar bear. A friendly polar bear. I wrote their responses down and displayed it in the hallway.

And all week long, the kids could play with polar animals in water beads! The clear is the ice, the blue is the water.

I hope you enjoyed my polar animals recap!

Paper Penguins

We are studying polar animals this week. (Yay!) Today we talked about penguins, but we mostly learned about Emperor Penguins. For the craft, the kids made it all by themselves. They drew the shapes (mostly ovals and triangles), cut them out and glued them together. We did this as a big group and went through the steps together. Each child had:
1/2 sheet black paper (body)
1/2 sheet black paper folded in half (wings/flippers)
1/4 sheet white paper (belly)
1/4 sheet orange paper folded in half (beak and feet)
white crayon
pencil
glue stick
kid scissors

So first they drew an oval on the 1/2 sheet of black paper and cut it out. Then they drew a smaller oval on the folded piece of black paper. When they cut that out, they had two. (Most of them were actually surprised they had two!)

Then they used the pencil to draw an oval on the white sheet of paper. I reminded them it had to fit inside their first black oval. Then to make the beak, I showed them how cutting a triangle from the folded side would result in a beak that opens and closes. They thought that was so cool. They also could make circles or triangles for feet, or really whatever shape they wanted.

Then they glued all the pieces together and added wiggle eyes. I displayed them on white paper cut to look like ice and titled it, Just Chillin'.

I love how unique each one is! Some kids even added eggs to the feet!!

Adorable, right?

Fun Fact: At about 4 feet tall, the Emperor Penguin is the largest species of penguin.

Roly Poly Penguins

I have a cute penguin craft to share with you today! I cut paper into 3-inch strips and rolled them up. Then I stapled two rolls together.

We used glue dots to attach wiggle eyes to the top roll.

Then we added paper beaks, white bellies, feet and flippers.

 

 

Most of the penguins were able to stand on their own because of the big feet!

 

 

The only reason we made purple and pink ones is because I was running low on black paper, but I actually really like the variety! They are all so cute!

I also brought in some plastic eggs so the kids could try to walk while balancing the eggs on their feet, just like Emperor penguins!

Needless to say, it didn't work so well. And some of the kids were actually disappointed that there wasn't a baby penguin in their egg! I'll have to remember that for next year.

 

Fun Fact: Most penguins live in the southern hemisphere. The Galapagos penguins are the only ones that might cross over to the northern hemisphere.