Penguin Bowling

Who doesn't love penguins! Their images are everywhere, from the egg-caring Daddy Emperor to the crazy-haired Macaroni, and the combination of funny walks and survival under extreme weather conditions makes for great press!

Emperor penguin family

I got the children to tell me what they know about penguins - habitat, food, egg behavior, different species etc. The range of habitat surprised them, it's not just the South Pole! They knew a lot about certain penguins from movies which impressed me, but almost all of them believed the egg was cared for by the Dad, whereas it is only the Emperor that does this exclusively. Dads have a lot more 'padding' which makes them more tolerant of the long periods without food or movement on the ice than Moms. This piece of information generated conversations about whose Dad had his own padding - the honesty of preschoolers is eye-opening!

2 great books about penguins and eggs

We read these books  to learn more - the chicken Life Cycle book made a great comparison item - flightless birds and their eggs can be so different yet in many ways the same.

We finished by going Penguin Bowling! I glued photographs of different penguin species to bowling pins and set them up like a real bowling alley. Our bowling ball was a plastic egg! This activity was a huge hit. Many of the children have been bowling already and we had some impressive scores!

bowling pin penguins

the bowling alley

Wait time was alleviated by offering coloring activities, this offset the excitement of the game. The pictures they made can go into their journals!

creating a new penguin color scheme!