When teaching about arctic animals in Pre-K I spend an entire week on penguins and learning about Antarctica. We spend another week on polar bears and become mesmerized at the animals who live at the North Pole with Santa. The kids are fascinated with how the polar animals live in such frigid environments and are always shocked to hear it is much colder there than it is here in Oklahoma. Be sure to download the Free Arctic Printables here!
My students like learning about the fun birds that live in Antarctica. We love to watch them on the various penguin cams at the zoos. They are always so shocked when we learn how tall penguins can get. An emperor penguin can grow to be over 4 feet tall. I ordered a Penguin Cardboard Stand Up and create a graph to compare students' height to the penguin. You can download the graphing cutouts for free within the Free Arctic Printables here!
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My students love working at our sensory table. Not only are they learning skills that enhance their knowledge, but they are also increasing their communication skills. We have made a couple of different sensory table fillers, and each one is as exciting as the last.
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When we talk about polar bears, we also learn about the people who live in the Arctic. We teach students about how people in the Arctic will go ice fishing. They are always so fascinated with fishing in a hole on an iceberg. So students can get a better idea of ice fishing we create an "ice fishing" experience in the sensory table.
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My kids are always so concerned about the penguins and polar bears when they learn how cold it is in their habitat! They always want to know about how the animals swim in the cold water and how they stay warm. You can make your own "blubber" and have students experience firsthand what it is like to swim in the arctic.
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I love this easy DIY penguin bowling game! Mariah from Giggles Galore makes this DIY project seem so easy! Extend this activity into a math lesson as well to get even more out of this clever game.
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