Penguins!
The children learned about penguins. We talked about the characteristics of penguins and discovered there are 8 different breeds. I explained that there are different kids of penguins similar to how there are different kids of dogs. We read a book that described the characteristics of penguins and in the back of the book there was a guide to the different breeds. We used this guide to identify the types of penguins we had for stuffed animals and toys that we were using in our play. In the sensory table, we had an assortment of small plastic penguin toys. On the rug we had an assortment of stuffed penguin toys. The children observed the designs on the toys and pointed to the type of penguin they thought it was, I then read the name of the penguin. This engages their observation skills which will be helpful in other areas of learning.
There were cardboard blocks on the rug with the stuffed penguins for the children to build houses and igloos for the penguins. The children came up with many different designs for the houses.
For art projects, we worked on our gluing skills to make an Adélie penguin using different pre-cut pieces of paper. The children also made a Macaroni penguin using a toilet paper roll, paint, paper cut outs, and pipe cleaners for the feathery eyebrows.
The children also practiced their counting and one to one correspondence skills when searching for penguin erasers in the kinetic sand. They dug to find the penguins, then lined them up to count. They practiced pointing to each eraser as they counted and practiced stopping when there were no more erasers to count. They learned that the number they ended with was the total.
On our cooking day, we made a special snack that resembled a penguin! The children enjoyed this. We used a chocolate flavored Belvita cookie as the body and chocolate graham crackers as the wings. The children spread some white frosting onto the cookie using a popsicle stick. They added chocolate chips for the eyes and a piece of candy corn for the bill (beak).
