Life-Size Penguin and a Book Rave

Eva received this life-size penguin for her birthday and he goes everywhere with her these days.  In honor of him (she named him Big Daddy Penguin), we made another life-size penguin.  To start, I traced Eva's outline on easel paper.

Then she set to coloring the penguin in.

When she decided he was colored in enough, she added eyes and a beak and we cut him out.

(Those are some star stickers on his belly- Eva decided he needed to be fancy.)

While we are on the topic of life-size things I have to rave about a set of books I got Eva for her birthday.

  

The Life-Size Zoo series by Teruyuki Komiya is absolutely amazing!  Each book contains photographs of animals you would find at the zoo or the aquarium.  The best part is each picture is actual-size!  So some animals fit on a page and others don't even fill the giant fold-out pages.  Eva loves them!  We read each one several times a day.  Besides the photographs, there is information and fun facts about each animal.  (Did you know pandas poop around 100 poops a day?  We do now thanks to these books!)  There are about 20 animals in each book and the books themselves are quite big and hardcover with several fold-out pages in each- definitely worth the ~$12 they are selling for on Amazon.  (Click on any of the books above and you'll be taken to Amazon.)

Footprint Penguins

I love these adorable penguins!  I still have the ones that Eva made last year hanging up.  This year we made them to use as thank you cards for Eva's birthday presents.  She insisted on a penguin theme for her party (big surprise there!) so these cuties were the perfect way to wrap it up.  I painted the bottom of her foot with black paint leaving a small patch unpainted.  I also dabbed a little orange paint on two of her toes.  She pressed her foot down on white card stock and the penguin appeared!  Once they were dry she added googly eyes and an orange foam beak (I cut the triangles from foam stickers she had so they would adhere without needing glue.)  I hope the recipients find them as cute as I do!

Penguins A-Plenty

Did you know the only land animals in Antarctica are penguins and seals (and occasionally people)?  Eva is a huge penguin fan so she is thrilled that we have been reading more about her little web-footed friends.
Crafts
Penguin Footprints- we made these last year too but this year they will be used as thank you cards for Eva's recent penguin themed birthday party

Shape Penguin- we'll be creating some different penguins from various shapes and colors

Feather Painting- this is always a fun activity!

Life-Size Penguin- we'll turn an outline of Eva into a giant Emperor penguin

Activities
Penguin Waddling- can you walk like a penguin?  can you walk with an egg on your feet?

Rock Hopping- another activity we did last year only this year we will take it outside

Hide the Penguins- Eva got a penguin Toob for her birthday and the first thing she asked to do when she opened it was to hide them so this game will be played a lot!

Songs
I'm a Little Penguin (to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot) by Victoria Smith

I'm a little penguin, short and fat
Wearing my tixedo without any hat
I live in Antarctica where I splash and play
Whales, sharks and leopard seals make me run away.

Have You Ever Seen a Penguin? (to the tune of Have You Ever Seen a Lassie?)

Have you ever seen a penguin, a penguin, a penguin
Have you ever seen a penguin swim this way and that?
Swim this way and that way and that way and this way
Have you ever seen a penguin swim this way and that?

(change out swim for waddle, slide, hop, etc and act out as you sing)

Books