Penguins!

We have been a penguin-crazy family for a while now.

Back in 2010:  Old Crow dressed as a penguin for Halloween and Crazy Horse was an eagle.

That same year we visited the penguin exhibit at the zoo and they HAD to have a penguin "pet."  They still sleep with these penguins.

In 2011, we visited the GA Aquarium and viewed the penguins from an underwater tunnel.  We were all fascinated.

So I wasn't surprised when we recently began to talk about penguins a lot.

After watching the movie, Happy Feet, the kids became fascinated by penguins all over again. 

It is amazing how much factual information they can learn from a fictional cartoon.  They began talking about where penguins live, how they "sing," how the daddy takes care of the egg, and lots more.  It's all they could talk about.  So I began to gather books and activities to help them learn even more.

These are the books (both fiction and non-fiction) that I checked out from the library and added to our book basket:

The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins

The Little Penguin  by A.J. Wood

Penguins by Penelope Arlon

Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester

Tacky and the Emperor by Helen Lester

National Geographic Kids: Penguins! by Anne Schreiber

Little Penguin: The Emperor of the Antarctica by Jonathan London 

I found these great Montessori style penguin cards and printed out the 17 different species of penguins.  We could match the picture with the information about each type of penguin.      

Old Crow picked 4 penguins from the list.   He measured their height and marked them on the wall.  Then they each took turns to see which penguin was their same size.  They thought this was too funny!

Old Crow also did a mapping activity.  He colored the places on the map where penguins can be found.  He learned from our books (and it was reinforced with this activity) that penguins only live south of the Equator. Penguins do not live in the Arctic.

We also pulled out a past issue of Big Backyard and read about the Little Blue Penguin.  He's the smallest of all penguins.  I can't say enough good things about this magazine.  Sidenote:  Big Backyard has now been renamed Ranger Rick Jr.

Old Crow also practiced carrying the egg around on his feet.  He realized this was hard work!  He had to be extra careful not to let it touch the "ice."  :)

For an extra activity, we put together this globe puzzle.  Old Crow loved that penguins were pictured on Antarctica.

There are so many other fun activities.  Check out my Polar Animals Pinterest Board.  

That's all the time we had for penguins.  The boys now want a penguin as a pet.  I keep trying to tell them that it isn't such a good idea. ;)

We did, however, get a new pet.  Tadpoles!  Stay tuned to read about our journey with tadpoles.  They have now sprouted their back and front legs.  Amazing!  

Jenny