Indoor Penguin Snow Play! {Antarctic Antics and My Penguin Osbert}

It snowed this past weekend, but instead of bundling the kids up in layers upon layers of winter clothing, I decided to bring the snow play indoors this time!  And why not integrate it with a mini-unit on penguins?  Here's what we did..

First we watched the DVD version of the book Antarctic Antics by Judy Sierra.  It is a super-cute collection of poems/songs about penguins, packed with a lot of great information.  I pulled out our inflatable globe and showed the girls the equator and how penguins only live in the Southern hemisphere.  They took turns practicing finding Antarctica.

We watched this National Geographic video on YouTube about Emperor penguins.  The girls especially enjoyed seeing the dads carry the baby penguins on their feet.

 

For our craft, I printed out a Penguin Tracing Activity for the girls to trace and color and they did a great job.

Next it was time for some sensory snow play!  Earlier I had mentioned to the kids that we'd be playing with snow inside, and when they said something to their Dad about it, he gave me the "you know this is going to be a big mess" look.  I was planning on bringing in a tray of snow for the kids to play with on their little table, but then I came up with the idea of playing with the snow in the kitchen sink - and boy am I glad I did!

 

I filled up one side of the kitchen sink with water and the other side with snow, handed the girls some scoops and shovels and, of course, little penguin figures, and let them play (and play and play).  Earlier in the day, we had filled up different containers with water to make icebergs for the penguins to stand on.  Unfortunately, the water I put in the sink was lukewarm because I didn't want the girls to get too cold, and the icebergs instantly melted before any penguins could enjoy them.  This didn't spoil the fun at all.  The kids played and played, making up stories and doing all sorts of experiments (putting snow into the water, putting water on the snow, seeing how many penguins fit in a container before it sinks, etc...)

The kids had an amazingly fun time with this neat sensory experience, and the best part is that they didn't have to be bundled up and they didn't get too cold.

We finished our penguin mini-unit with another book - My Penguin Osbert by Elizabeth Coy Kimmel.  It's a story about a boy who asks Santa for a penguin for Christmas and gets exactly what he wished for (including long walks in the snow, ice-cold baths, and herring for breakfast)!

It turned out to be a wonderful day learning about penguins.  I'll definitely repeat the indoor snow sensory play again the next time it snows - the kids enjoyed it so much and it was a lot more convenient for me than taking them outside.

This post is part of our National Reading Month celebration where we try to do a book-related activity every day in March.  To get more updates on what we're up to, please follow Learners in Bloom: