One of the joys of being a SAHM is that I have a little more time to spend on the silly stuff. Of course, there is no need to celebrate World Penguin Day (which is on the 25th of April if you’re interested) but why not. Who doesn’t love penguins?
I’ve come up with five activities around penguins that develop a range of early skills. Why not join in with the silliness and have a little penguin party too.
Communication and Language
We kicked off our day with reading Hiku. If you haven’t already read it, it’s a lovely story about a little penguin who is tired of his big family and goes off to hide only to discover he really misses them. Hiku has a heart shaped tummy and it is fun to try and find him on each page.
Understanding the world
I couldn’t believe how many little penguin bits I had around the house. I found a tiny one maybe from a kinder egg and so I thought it’d be fun to freeze him to see if the girls could rescue Hiku. You could just use a bit of black and white play doh. I wanted to push them to think about how they could release him from the ice. They knew that they needed the ice to melt and so I asked them ‘how could you get him out faster?’
Expressive Art and Design
A fun glue and stick activity. Just snip up whatever blue materials you have. I had some coloured paper, ribbon and fabric. Ideally, I’d have used some tissue paper and cellphone too but I didn’t have any. The girls then just glued the pieces all over the paper.
Next they practised their cutting to create a black penguin shape. It really doesn’t matter what they cut out as long as it fits on the page. Then with a smaller piece of white paper, they can cut out a belly. They can add details with googly eyes or just felt pens.
Physical Development
We watch this short video which my girls loved. It focuses on African penguins which was good to show that not all penguins live in polar climates. As it was a mix of cartoon and documentary, it really appealed to them. Afterwards we practised our penguin noises and waddled around the house.
Bonus:
Oreo Penguin Treats
I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided to give it a go. Although our creations aren’t Pinterest worthy, with just a few bits we made little non bake penguin biscuits. Instead of Oreos, we used Aldi equivalents which tasted just as yummy. We melted about 10 giant white buttons in a mini sandwich bag as our glue.
If penguins don’t float your boat, why not pick another animal and have a theme day? I like to try and choose something to bake, something to make, something that gets them moving and something that gets them thinking. I’d love to hear what you get up to with your little ones.
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