Preschool Crafts – Making Paper Penguins
Everyone loves those cute, flightless birds known as penguins, and their distinctive shape and coloring makes them an ideal subject for an art project aimed at younger children. Even if you’ve never tried your hand at preschool crafts before, the simple instructions provided below will have you making paper penguins in no time.
But before we list the easy-to-follow steps, let’s take a look at the various species of penguins. Not only will these give your child a little more creative freedom when it comes to the project, but it can also serve as a springboard to a lesson about these adorable creatures.
- Emperor Penguin – The largest species of penguin, they can weigh up to 100 pounds. They have bright yellow ear patches, white bellies, and yellowish breasts.
- Macaroni Penguin – Has a yellow and orange crest which extends from the center of the forehead back to the neck. Bill is a mixture of orange and brown, while the iris is red.
- Chinstrap Penguin – Known as the most aggressive type of penguin, it has a thin black band running under its bill (which makes it look as though it’s wearing a black helmet with a chinstrap).
- King Penguin – The second largest species of penguin. Bright orange patches around ears, with silver-grey markings on their back.
- Fiordland Penguin – Most birds of the species have between 3 and 6 white stripes on their face, but their most distinctive feature are the yellow eyebrows that extend over the eye and slope downwards on the neck.
- African Penguin – The only species of penguin that breeds in Africa. A black stripe runs across their chest, and each penguin has black spots on their chest that are unique to the individual bird.
- Humboldt Penguin – Medium-sized penguins with a pink base on the bill, black breast band extending to the thigh, and a white border running from behind the eye to around the throat. Found on the coasts of Chile and Peru.
- White-flippered Penguin – A small species of penguin with distinctive white markings on its flippers.
- Royal Penguin – Have a white face and chin, with black and yellow plumage running from the base of the bill to the back of the head. Orange beak.
- Erect-crested Penguin – Notable for its yellow eyebrow stripe that forms an erect crest (for which it is named).
- Gentoo Penguin – A large species of penguin which has a white stripe on the top of its head. Of all species of penguins, they can swim the fastest underwater.
- Adelie Penguin – Tails are a bit longer than most penguins. Feathers at the base of their bill, and white rings around the eyes. Usually measure between 18 and 30 inches in length.
- Little Penguin – Only 12 to 13 inches in length, this smallest species of penguin is recognizable for its blue plumage.
- Rockhopper Penguin – Divided into the Western Rockhopper Penguin, Eastern Rockhopper Penguin, and Northern Rockhopper Penguin.
- Yellow-eyed Penguin – Native to New Zealand. A yellow band runs from its eyes to the back of its head. The head and the iris of the eyes are a pale yellow. One of the rarest species of penguins in the world.
- Magellanic Penguin – Medium-sized species of penguin with two black bands between the head and breast, and a white band that begins behind the eyes and rings around the throat.
- Snares Penguin – Reddish-brown beaks, with a patch of skin near the base. A yellow crest begins at the bill and runs to the back of the head. They breed in The Snares, a group of islands near New Zealand.
- Galapagos Penguin – Lives further north than any other species of penguin. White border begins behind the eye and meets at the throat. Two black bands run across their breasts, with the lower band extending down to the thigh. Found on the Galapagos Islands.
Making Penguins Out of Paper
For those who enjoy preschool crafts, this project will allow you to make penguins out of paper and a used yogurt container. The process takes very little time, and it’s an excellent way for younger children to learn about the world around them and explore their creative side. With a little experimentation, any of the penguin species described above can be made.
Before you begin, you’ll need to collect the following items:
- Yogurt container
- Glue (Elmer’s Glue will work just fine)
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Hole punch
- Construction paper (you’ll at least need the following colors: white, black, yellow, orange, pink, and brown)
Now it’s time to use our supplies and create a penguin!
- Step #1 – First, we’ll create the penguin’s body. To do this, you need to take black construction paper and cut a section measuring 3 ½ inches wide by 7 ½ inches long. This will be glued onto the yogurt container to cover up the label.
- Step #2 – For the penguin’s head, cut a circle out of the black construction paper and glue it near the top of the body. The head should extend up beyond the yogurt container.
- Step #3 – Now we’ll create the white area found on the penguin’s stomach. To do this, first take a sheet of white construction paper. Take your pencil and draw an upside-down letter U that measures 3 ½ inches long. Draw a line to connect the two ends of the U, and then cut out with scissors. Glue this to the front of the penguin’s body, making sure to keep the base of the U flush with the bottom of the yogurt container.
- Step #4 – Next up are the wings. Take some more black construction paper, and draw out a teardrop shape that’s 2 ½ inches long and 1 inch at the widest section. Cut another piece of paper in the exact same way, and you’ll have yourself two wings ready to be glued on. If you like a more three-dimensional look for your paper penguin, you can fold the wings in half (vertically) prior to attaching them.
- Step #5 – Now we’ll create the eyes. Take your hole punch and white construction paper, and punch out two white circles. Now do the same with a piece of brown construction paper. Trim the brown circles to make them smaller, and glue them onto the white circles (thus creating the pupils for the eyes). Once this has dried, glue the completed eyes evenly onto the penguin’s head.
- Step #6 – Take the pink construction paper and cut out two rectangles that measure 1 inch by ½ inch. On each rectangle, use your scissors to cut one ½ side into a wavy pattern. Fold up the straight edges of the other ½ side to create a tab, and use this area to apply glue and attach to the base of the penguin’s body. This will create the feet. If you desire a more complex look, you can do the same with black construction paper and overlap with the pink paper (giving the penguin feet that are pink on top and black on the bottom).
- Step #7 – To create the beak, draw a diamond shape onto the orange construction paper with each side measuring ¾ inch. Then fold the piece of paper in half to give the beak a three-dimensional effect. One end of the diamond will need to be folded upward in order to create a tab which can be glued onto the penguin’s head. The beak should be attached just below the eyes of the penguin.
Congratulations, you’ve just created a penguin using nothing more than construction paper, an old yogurt carton, and your imagination. While more complex versions of the project can be constructed, this basic example of preschool crafts should engage youngsters and have them wanting to learn more about the subject.