Shauna February 1, 2012

Today I wanted to share with you a few more Penguin themed activities we did from our Penguin Theme Unit Study. My daughters and I love to paint, so when I saw this Penguin Painting Project on Deep Space Sparkle (one of my favorite blog inspirations for kids art projects), I knew it was the project for us.

  1. First “Little Red” started off by drawing a winter scene including an icebergs, cold water, a darling penguin, and fluffy clouds using a black oil pastel.
  2. Second she watercolored the sky by mixing yellow and orange watercolor paint, and she painted the water and icebergs by mixing blue, white, black, and purple water color paint.
  3. Then she let her painting dry, and once it was dry she painted her penguin using watercolors as well.
  4. After her penguin dried she went back with a black oil pastel and added a few details (like her adorable eyelashes she adds to everything).
  5. The last step we did (which I changed a little from the original post) was we flicked blue paint spots all over the painting. It is probably hard to see on the smaller picture but up close it looked pretty neat.  

 Here is “Little Red’s” completed penguin painting. I think it is so cute and one of my favorite paintings she has done. She is only 5 years old and she did everything by herself. I didn’t ever say, you have to paint the sky this color, or you have to have your penguin floating on a block of ice (she came up with that idea :0>)She just did what she wanted to and her creativity came through.

I quickly did my own painting along with “Little Red” and let me tell you, my 5 year olds painting turned out SO SO SO much more darling than mine!

We had fun reading a few more Penguin themed books.
The Puzzled Penguin, by Debi Gliori, has always been one of my girls favorite winter themed books. Not only is the story line super cute, but the pop-up features throughout the book are fantastic! In fact, when I owned my own preschool, this book was ALWAYS a favorite as well. Of course the students would always request I pretend to chop their hands when I got to the pop out Walrus and Shark pages.
The Puzzled Penguin is about a little penguin that goes around asking all of his arctic friends if he is really a penguin. Each page has a pop out feature on it that is so creatively designed. At the end they ask the little penguin why he wonder’s if he is a penguin, and he replies, “Because I am always so FREEZING” (which is the page I show you above). Not only is this a fun book for children to read but it also teaches children about penguins as the story progresses. I highly recommend you check this book out!
Penguin Post by Debi Gliori is another fun book that we found at our local library. For me if a children’s book has a great story line, it is a plus, if it has fabulous illustrations, it’s a plus plus! This holds true for the story Penguin Post.
My children always love to get the mail each day. It is always fun to see what the postman has delivered. Of course they always hope it is a package from Grandma or Grandpa or a letter from one of their pen pals. :0) But no matter what, even it is junk mail, my girls always race out to the mailbox.
In this cute story Milo is a penguin that comes from a long line of penguin carriers. His mom has just laid an egg and as he is anticipating having a new sibling he gets the job of delivering all of the packages for the penguin post. He delivers packages to Mrs. Moose, Mrs. Polar Bear, and so on…but the package that he receives at the end of the book is the best package of all! Another cute book to check out.
We have also been working on a lot of the fun and educational activities from my NEW “Let’s Learn about Penguin Unit”. This unit helps teach children about penguins, while having the opportunity of completing a variety of literacy, science, and art activities. It is a great unit to compliment my “Math Fun Addition and Subtraction Games”. Penguins are great to study all year long!
CLICK HERE to find out more about my “Let’s Learn about Penguins Unit”.
One of the activities we have completed in this unit is my “Penguin Word Work Activity” which I am sharing with you today. This activity is great because it is quick, it has your child practice fine motor skills by using scissors and glue, they are making one-on-one connections with letters, and the have an opportunity to spell the word “penguin” as well.
Do you want to download this activity for free? Simply CLICK HERE and enjoy. As always, I love to hear your comments!
Did you miss my other Penguin Themed Posts that contain more great ideas and FREE downloads?
CLICK HERE to be taken to my First Penguin Post.
CLICK HERE to be taken to my Second Penguin Post.
For more fun “Winter Themed Ideas” check out my Winter Ideas Board on Pinterest.
 

PreK + K Sharing

0 thoughts on “Penguin Painting, Literacy Activities, and Books part 3”

  2. Ooooo, I LOVE your Penguin artwork! I just picked up several books at the library about Penguins and this activity will be perfect! 🙂

  4. I wanted to let you know how much fun I had with my boys creating our own penguin paintings (inspired by you of course!). I have my post about it scheduled to be up on Friday morning and I linked to your blog in my post. 🙂