We made pipe cleaner penguins. Take a black pipe cleaner and wind it around a thick pen or pencil making a tight spring. Slip it off. This is the penguin's head and body. Take half an orange or yellow pipe cleaner, bend it in half, then bend the folded end over to create a beak. Slip it up through the black spring, letting the beak stick out between a couple of the coils. The loose ends hanging down are bent up into little feet. Finally, take a small piece of thick white pipe cleaner. Bend each end a bit and slip it into the coils under the beak to make the white tuxedo front of the penguin. You can add googly eyes, but they're cute even without them. My first graders had a little trouble doing this project on their own, but second and third should do ok. My teenage daughter used different lengths of pipe cleaners to make an entire family of penguins, some in pretty unusual colors. You might even give each child a jelly belly in an appropriate color to be the penguin egg that is balanced on the father's feet until it hatches. Baby penguins could be made from fuzzy gray pipe cleaners.
I have made penguins from film canisters...the black ones with gray lids - not the clear ones. Glue on SMALL wiggle eyes, a white oval for belly, black shape(?) for the wings, folded orange diamond for the beak, and two orange webbed feet glued to the bottom. It is very cute. I think I got the idea from mailbox if you want to search there!!
Draw an oval shape = body, On top draw a circle = head, long triangle on each side = wings (on the bottom of the wings erase the straight line and make scallops), 2 triangles = feet again make scallops.
Balance egg on your feet like a penguin –might like to use play dough or hard-boiled eggs.
Bulletin Board Theme "Our Wonderful Winterland" Black penguin for each student and a piece of penmanship paper cut in shape of penguin tummy, with "I wonder..." written on the first line. Let students finish. Put penguins on the bulletin board.
Make a penguin mobile of the different varieties of penguins. Draw the penguin on one side and write characteristics on the other. Show map of the Arctic Area. Have students make penguin cookies. Buy sugar cookies, the cheapest big round ones work great, A can of chocolate frosting and a can of white frosting. Make an upside down V White for the penguin's tummy; Cover the rest of the cookie with Chocolate frosting, wings. Add a chocolate cookie for the head. A red M and M for the mouth, and brown M and M's for the eyes, or you can use chocolate chips, or raisins for eyes, Pineapple tidbits or candy corn, for the beak, and feet. Make a penguin book. Students might write a poem in their book or tell something about penguins
Try this penguin hat that teaches triangles- cut a large triangle from construction paper. Make the top point to the middle of the bottom edge shorter than the length of the two sides and the bottom edge. (The two long sides will become the penguin arms that wrap around the student's head.) Stick two hole reinforcers on the top part to be the eyes and a small orange beak below. Cut a smaller white triangle to fit under the "chin" for the stomach area. Staple the arms together to form a circle and place on the student's head. The "head of the penguin should look out over the student's head. Hope this makes sense. They are very cute.
My first grade class just finished a penguin unit. We made a big deal about the globe, equator, and how penguins can live in lots of places under the equator in the southern hemisphere.
A good question was always "Why would a penguin and polar bear never meet, except for in a zoo?"
(Polar bears only live in northern hemisphere.
It was a great way to get some geography in.
There are at least 4 Tacky the Penguin books. They are all great!!
Also, look for the book "Antarctic Antics."
It is a collection of poems about the life of a penguin, from the egg to eating, to predators, and living in the Antarctic. The kids and I loved it!! I also tracked down a video of the book at the local library. This is a "must" for your unit!
Another fun activity was the penguin habitat snack.
We just started a big unit on animals and habitat is an important concept.
The snack is made in a clear plastic disposable cup. Use bright-blue "kool-aid" (I got it already made in a jug." Also, use little fruit snack fish. (I could only find sharks, but I explained it to my kids.) Then we used little and big marshmallows for the icebergs/snow/and/or eggs.
The kids loved making this! They didn't all eat it, but it was fun.
At the end of our unit, we also decided to adopt a penguin from our local zoo. We adopted a Humboldt penguin, a penguin on the endangered species list. I asked each child to bring in 1 dollar. This is another way to culminate the unit. We spent a few weeks on our unit and my kids really adored penguins.
an art activity:
have kids use white crayon to color snow on the white paper...then paint over the white crayon lightly with blue watercolors, add penguin stickers....
My penguin unit is in February but penguins are fun all year.
1. We read Mr Popper's Penguins
2. learn about the height of different varieties of penguins then a group of students draw the correct size on large paper (we have used bulletin board paper so we did not have to tape penguin together) and attached them in a row along a wall, bottom of penguin touching the floor - the students can stand next to each type and compare their height
3. use the type of clay that dries hard and mold a penguin shape - you can stick a paperclip in the head for hanging in classroom or an ornament - then let dry and paint
4. create a calendar with a different penguin fact on each day or a short assignment which has to do with penguins, ex: Name 5 living creatures in Antarctica, etc
Hope some of this helps - there are many resources out there, these are a few I like to do :)
I have the kids use a penguin picture to make a Penguin glyph (circle body for girls, oval body for boys, etc.). I have them make a penguin plate project and write penguin facts in the center. We do a decoupage penguin egg. We cut a zig zag line with an exacto and put clay baby penguins inside. The write a daily journal about the hatching penguin. I have cute little penguin pictures and the kids write comic strips for each character and we discuss voice.
View ThreadI love Tacky too!
I've seen a cute art project using 2 regular paper plates, a round circle for the head, and brads to make a penguin. One plate lays flat as the body. Attach the head (with eyes, beak, etc.) made of construction paper. Cut the other paper plate in half. Attach to the top of the body paper plate with brads at the top so that the halves swing open as wings and paint black. Attach construction paper feet.
We always make a penguin necklace out of plaster of paris in a greased spoon with a paper clip inserted in the top to put ribbon in. We use permanent markers to draw on the penguin features, beak, feet, and wings. Kids LOVE them and wear them all the time!
View ThreadAfter researching penguins and writing a report my students make life size penguins out of craft paper. We put them up in the hall with a card the kids write with facts on them. They look so cute. We mount them with the feet by the floor so the rest of the school can see how tall they really are. We label it March of the Penguins.:)
View ThreadUsing an empty and clean soup can (any size will do). Paint it totally white on the outside. Then, sponge paint black over it leaving a small oval on what will be the front of the penguin. Paint eyes and beak on it. I used black for the eyes and worange for the beak. Twist 2 pipe cleaners together and form a U with them. Glue the pipe cleaners to the top of the can like a handle. Glue larger pompoms on the can to cover where you glued the pipe cleaners on. Tie a piece of cloth around the can to act like a scarf. Add a sign that says "South Pole of Bust" if you would like. I did these for a craft fair. They are easy to make, and work well for kids to do also.
Have your kids each bring a medium sized smooth rock (or you can buy "river rocks" at the garden center) and paint it as an animal. Then they make a shoebox diorama for their "pet rock." For example, if they paint the rock like a penguin, then the box would be decorated to look like an snow, sea, icebergs, etc.