P is for Penguin

We're starting to get into a rhythm with our preschool morning. I've changed our schedule so that we always start out reading from the Word of God and doing our Bible lesson. This helps us stay focused and reminds us to be godly in all we say and do throughout the rest of the day. We've been ending our Bible time by singing songs that Ethan is beginning to learn and memorize. Such a neat time!

Our theme for this class was Penguins. We read a story on starfall.com called Penguin, Penguin. Then we read a book called Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere and learned about where penguins live, what they look like, what they eat, etc.

Next, it was time for some fun penguin songs and finger plays that I found online:

Penguin Song

  (sung to "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean")

The penguin slides over the ice bank,

The penguin jumps into the sea.

Look at his black and white feathers,

That penguin's as cute as can be!

I’m a King Penguin

  (sung to "Eency, Weency Spider")

I'm a King Penguin

Black and white

living at the South Pole

Day and night.

One big egg I lay

and fish I eat.

I hold my egg

upon my feet.

Penguin Family

One royal penguin . .feeling very blue (hold up one finger)

Called for his brother then there were two (hold up two fingers)

Two royal penguins. . .swimming in the sea (swimming motion)

Called for their sister then there were three (hold up three fingers)

Three royal penguins waddle on the shore (waddle)

Call for their mother, then there were four (hold up four fingers)

Four royal penguins learning how to dive (Make diving motion)

Call for their father, then there were five (hold up five fingers)

Next we reviewed what we learned about the letter P while coloring our worksheet. Then Ethan spent some time highlighting the letter P on an advertisement page. 

Our craft for this lesson was creating a penguin. I had Ethan identify the colors of each shape before we assembled the craft. Ethan really enjoys using the glue and it's fun to watch him sit still and concentrate as he spreads it around with his finger. :) 

I introduced Ethan to some fun new games that I found online, the Penguin Shuffle and Penguin Bowling.

Penguin Shuffle

Males protect the eggs by balancing them on their feet. So place a bean bag on the child's feet and have them shuffle from one place to another without losing the bean bag "egg". 

I didn't have a bean bag so I used a hard-boiled egg. It was almost impossible to keep the egg on your feet, I couldn't even do it, but it sure was fun to try. Ethan figured out very quickly that it was a lot more fun to kick the egg around like a soccer ball. Afterwards we ate the hard-boiled eggs with our lunch.

Penguin Bowling

Use a 2-liter bottle. Wrap it with black construction paper. On the front of the bottle make a body and head out of white construction paper. Draw eyes on the head with a black marker. Use orange construction paper triangles to make the beak. Use orange construction paper to make the feet and glue at the bottom of the bottle. Cut the toe out of bright colored sock. Put the sock on the top of the bottle using a rubber band to hold it in place. From the toe to the neck of the bottle cut strips in the sock. Turn the strips down and you have its hat. Use soft balls to roll and try to knock the penguin down. (You can pretend they are snowballs.)

I didn't bother with putting a hat on our penguin and it turned out just fine. Ethan loved this game! He preferred kicking the ball to knock the penguin down. What can I say, this kid loves soccer!!