Penguin Writing Craft for Kindergarten
Penguins are such a fun topic to teach about during the winter months! Nothing gets much cuter than a penguin! There are so many things that students can learn from reading and writing about penguins. In this post, I’m going to share how your students can share what they’ve learned by creating a fun Penguin Writing Craft!
Benefits of a Penguin Writing Craftivity
This penguin writing unit is a great addition to your winter lesson plans. Here are just a few reasons why this writing activity could easily become a classroom tradition!
- Winter Celebration – Some school districts have policies regarding holiday activities. This penguin craft is a fun way to celebrate the winter season without highlighting a specific holiday.
- Welcome Back Activity – You could also use this penguin writing unit as a way to ease back into the learning routine after winter break.
- Practice Fine Motor Skills – This activity gives your students an engaging way to practice fine motor skills. They can improve their pencil grip and letter formation while also practicing scissor skills.
- Motivate Students to Write – Finally, this penguin writing craftivity motivates students to write! When your kindergarteners realize that they will be creating a penguin book that’s shaped like a penguin, they’ll be itching to get started!
Writing About Penguins in Kindergarten
The best part about this penguin writing craftivity is that it’s simple! It doesn’t take much prep time at all to put together this fun writing unit for your kindergarteners.
1. Learn All About Penguins
The first step is to help your students learn all about penguins! It’s easier for students to write about something they know, so it’s important to take some time to learn about penguins together as a class.
To kick off your writing unit, you can read several picture books about penguins. This book, “Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere!,” is such a great, child-friendly book that shares a ton of penguin facts!
As you read these books, you can compile everything you learn and discuss into one anchor chart. A “can, have, are” chart is a great way to organize everything your students are learning about penguins. You can talk about what penguins can do, what attributes make them unique, and how we describe penguins. The format for this chart also corresponds to the independent writing activity that your students will complete!
2. Write About Penguins
Next, it’s time to share what your students have learned by writing about penguins! Students love to share their favorite fun facts about penguins, which motivates them to write and illustrate their own sentences!
Since this writing activity corresponds to the “can, have, are” chart, each student will receive three different writing pages containing a sentence starter:
- “Penguins can…”
- “Penguins have…”
- “Penguins are…”
Students can easily reference the class anchor chart to help them complete each page. The sentence starters will also help guide and focus the students’ writing.
After writing each sentence, your students can draw a picture to go with it. Remind them that they are creating illustrations for their very own books! This is another great motivator for kindergarteners.
You can spread out the writing portion of this craftivity over several days, depending on how much support your students need with the task. One page per day works great, since that gives your students plenty of time to write and illustrate a sentence with their best work.
Depending on the needs of your class, you can allow your students to copy the words from the anchor chart or encourage them to sound out the words.
You could also invite students to draw their illustrations first, which can help lessen frustration for students who might have difficulty writing the sentences.
When the time comes to give the student individual help, the completed illustration will help the student remember what they want to say. This will save precious time as you work your way around the classroom to support individual students!
3. Create a Penguin Craft
Finally, it’s time to put together the penguin craft. All you need is black, white, and orange construction paper to create this adorable penguin!
You can prepare the individual squares and rectangles that your students will use to create the different parts of the penguin. Your kindergarteners can practice shape identification and following directions as you describe the steps for completing the penguin craft.
Once the craft is complete, you will staple the writing to the penguin’s belly. The final result is a penguin-shaped book that your students will be eager to take home and read to their families!
4. Share About Penguins
Before you send home these cute little penguins, give your students a chance to share what they’ve written with the rest of the class! This is another great way to help your kindergarteners build confidence when it comes to their writing.
Once the book is complete, you could split the students into small groups and have them take turns sharing their books with their peers. If you do reading buddies with an older class, you could save these books for the next visit.
These penguins can also be mounted to a bulletin board or taped up in the hallway before you send them home. These penguins make an adorable, interactive winter display! Students are always so excited to find their penguin hanging up in the hallway or in the classroom. This is another way to motivate students to write!
Free Penguin Writing Craft for Kindergarten
Would you like to create these adorable little penguins in your classroom this winter? You can grab this penguin writing craft for free in my shop!
This freebie includes a planning page, the sentence starter pages, and a penguin labeling activity that you can also add to the book. You’ll also find detailed, step-by-step photo directions for creating the penguin craft. Just click below to grab the free craftivity!
All About Penguins Craft Freebie
Save This Penguin Writing Craftivity
Be sure to save this post if you’d like to come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly and easily find this post when you’re looking for a fun winter writing activity for your kindergarten class!
