Montessori-Inspired Continent Activities – Penguins of Antarctica

Today, I want to share some ideas of activities for the last continent in my continent series – Antarctica.

 

Disclosure: Safari Ltd. gave me the TOOB used in this post. This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you. My opinions are honest and my own.

For this post, I used the Safari Ltd. Penguins TOOB. As with each continent, there are many different ways to introduce animals of Antarctica. In this post, I’m just focusing on the penguins of Antarctica. Check out my Montessori-inspired Arctic and Antarctic Unit for more ideas.

The activities in this post work well in conjunction with a Montessori Antarctica continent box. (Note: I made the background of the collage white because of the white Antarctica on the Montessori world map.)

Printable Key: Thanks to Safari Ltd. for the educational key for the TOOB! The Safari Ltd. keys are very useful not only for simple matching activities, but also as a way for you to keep your TOOBS organized and for older children to use as keys for research or for organizing the animals in the proper TOOB. If you click on the link, you can save and print out the educational key for the Safari Ltd. Penguins TOOB Key. {If you’d like to study penguins from more continents than Antarctica, you’ll find 16 species of penguins in the free Penguin Species 3-Part Cards by Finding Montessori at Teachers Pay Teachers. For 3-part cards of 16 species plus information about each penguin and a distribution map (very cool), check out the Types of Penguins and Location Maps available for purchase at Montessori Print Shop.}

Penguins of Antarctica Map Activity

 

Not all penguins are from Antarctica, so I decided to focus on the Antarctica penguins using free printables and the Safari Ltd. Penguins TOOB. I’ve seen listings of 5-7 Antarctic penguins. I’m focusing on 5 penguins (Emperor Penguin, Rockhopper Penguin, Chinstrap Penguin, Adelie Penguin, and Gentoo Penguin from the Safari Ltd. TOOB key) for this activity. The Macaroni Penguin isn’t included in the TOOB, so I just introduce that in the booklet in the 3rd activity.

A simple activity would be to have a tray with the penguins of Antarctica and a map of Antarctica. You can download and print out a free map of Antarctica from Wikipedia. I used an inexpensive wooden tray from Michaels hobby store and a clear acrylic tray from Montessori Services to organize the penguins. Standing the penguins on the tray is also a good fine-motor activity for young preschoolers. I included cut outs of the Antarctic penguins from the Safari Ltd. Penguins TOOB Key. It isn’t needed for the map activity, but it gives another matching activity that young children could enjoy.

 The layout is on a Montessori Services work rug. A young preschooler could just learn the names of the penguins and arrange them on the Antarctica map however he or she chooses. I would probably introduce the penguins by naming each one as I placed them in their appropriate place on the map. I used the Interactive Map of Antarctica from PBS and The Animal Files (for the Rockhopper Penguin) to decide where to place the penguins.

Young preschoolers could just place the animals without focusing on their exact location. Even if they aren’t in the place where they would live in Antarctica, it’s still a good hands-on activity for identifying the names of penguins and the shape of Antarctica. For older preschoolers, you could mention facts about each penguin as you place it.

If you have the Little Passports world map from the first package, you could use that instead of a printed map.

Antarctica Penguins and Their Chicks

For this activity, I used the free Antarctica Penguins and Their Chicks by Seemi from Trillium Montessori. (If you sign up for the mailing list, you’ll get access to the subscriber library which includes the cards.) I didn’t use the King Penguin since it didn’t come with the Safari Ltd. TOOB and is one of the penguins that is sometimes included in Antarctic penguins and other times not included. You could put matching color coding dots on the backs of all the cards for a specific type of penguin as a control of error (self check for the child).

Facts about My Friends, the Penguins, Booklet

This activity uses a free printable created by Jill of Enchanted Homeschooling Mom: Free Facts About My Friends, the Penguins Reader. I like using this with the penguins of Antarctica because it gives some facts about penguins and tells where in the world each penguin lives, which is helpful for children who wonder about the penguins that aren’t from Antarctica. The booklet doesn’t have the Adelie Penguin, but it shows a good variety of penguins from around the world.

More Montessori-Inspired Penguin Activities

Free Penguin Printables and Montessori-Inspired Penguin Activities (my post – contains long list of free penguin printables plus Montessori-inspired penguin subscriber freebie pack)

Montessori-Inspired Arctic and Antarctic Unit

Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy!

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