Arctic animal preschool activities are a great way to teach about polar animals and make January fun! To start with, who doesn’t love polar bears, penguins, and whales? Kids love learning about these interesting animals and their frozen habitat. Add some math, literacy, and art…you’ve got a lesson plan packed with learning!
Arctic Animals Preschool Activities: Math
To begin with, I’m so ready to bring these math centers out this week! I love all these centers, not to mention the fact that we need a refresher on basic skills after such a long break! And so, a little bit of shape tracing, count & match, numeral writing, and lots of counting is just what we need!
Arctic Animals Preschool Activities: Science
This week we will be trying out 2 science activities I added to my lesson plan over the summer. I’m so excited for both of them.
Actually, one of them can double as a math center! It is called “Feed the Hungry Polar Animals”. First of all, there are 10 adorable animals to feed. Secondly, in doing this activity you will feed the animals what they actually eat in the wild! Kids will learn so much about each animal, count, use 1-1 correspondence, and fine motor skills…it’s one of the best activities I’ve come up with in a long time and I am so excited to see it in action!
The next activity is a set of Polar Animals fact cards with 5 facts about 7 different animals. Incidentally, I think these will work best for whole-group activities, but you can use them in small groups as well.
In addition to those great activities, I have a favorite activity that illustrates the size of the animals swimming in the Polar seas. I have printed several whales, laminated and then cut them in half. I googled the actual length of each, and then I tied a string the actual length of each whale between the head and tail.
Next, we go into the main hall of the school and with one student holding the head and another the tail, we see exactly how large each animal is. The picture above is when we measured the blue whale…it took the entire class holding the string spaced apart to show the length of that amazing creature! The kids learn so much and love this activity!
Arctic Animals Preschool Activities: Literacy
I’m so excited to share all of these fun literacy centers with my students again! My kiddos love animals so much, each one of these centers is a hit! Letter matching, beginning sounds, rhyming, Polar Animal alphabet, journal pages, a foldable book, and an adorable polar bear letter match too…because you can never have too many letter-matching activities!
Arctic Animals Preschool Activities: Crafts
Two of my favorite crafts for this unit are ‘Arctic Hares in the Snow’, and ‘Penguin Hats’. Before we begin Arctic HAres in the Snow, we read about arctic animals in the winter and we watch videos showing the animals in warmer weather when they are brown, and in the winter when the don their white coats. We talk about camouflage and winter survival. To prep, I cut white ears, a pink nose, and black eyes. For a tail, I use cotton balls. It is such an easy craft. the kids paint a large smear of white paint on paper. While the paint is still wet, stick the eyes, nose, ears, and tail on the paint. That’s it!
The penguin hats are a little bit more involved. Just like the Arctic hare craft, I read a book about penguins, show pictures and videos of different types of penguins before we begin the craft. For prep, I use sentence strips for the headband, I cut half ovals for the penguin heads, a long oval which I fold in half for the beak, and a large white, and smaller black circles for the eyes. I also have yellow curling ribbon on hand so the kids can choose to be. macaroni penguin if they want. Both crafts are easy, fun, and packed with learning opportunities!
Arctic Animals Preschool Activities: Block Center
In my years of teaching, I have discovered that if I add little animals to the block center kids will use their imaginations more, and stay and play a lot longer. Therefore, for Polar Animals week I use plain wood blocks and add polar bears, penguins, and other arctic animals. Historically my kiddos have loved this center. Every year I have noticed that the structures they build for their animals can be quite complex. The result is STEM learning through play! It’s even better because it happens organically.
Arctic Animals Preschool Activities: Sensory Station
I like to wait to use water in my sensory area until the school year is far underway and rules are well established. Consequently, Polar Animal week is the perfect time to fill the bin with water and add some orcas, penguins, whales, walruses, and seals. Next, add freezer cubes from the dollar store (unfrozen, of course) to act as ice and add some interest. As a result, you will see kids spending a lot of time at your sensory bin learning, playing and exploring life in the polar seas!
I hope this post inspires you to make your Arctic Animals week the best one yet! Have fun exploring the Arctic regions and stay warm!
