Penguin Fun with Ms. Brittany

Ms. Brittany’s Pre-K Adaptive Art classes had “snow” much fun learning about printmaking and penguins in January! The students learned that a stamp can also be called a print as they made snowy printed backgrounds for their penguin art. Each student then created a dancing penguin to complete their mixed-media masterpiece.

See below for steps to make a snowy penguin masterpiece:

1st 30-minute class – (Materials: pictures of penguins, construction paper 8x10 of various colors for back ground, cotton swabs, white tempera paint, paint pallets) STEPS: Students learned about the features of penguins and looked at pictures of penguins in their habitats. They then chose a background color for their own penguin’s habitat. Then students printed snowflakes by pressing a cotton swab in white tempera paint on a pallet “down and up,” then pressed it onto their chosen background paper “down and up.”

2nd 30-minute class – (Materials: pre-cut black construction paper for penguin bodies, pre-cut white construction paper for penguin bellies/faces, 1”x6” strips of construction paper for scarves – two per student, pre-cut orange, black, and yellow triangles for penguin beaks, black circle stickers for eyes – two per student, pre-cut black construction paper flippers – two per student, crayons, glue) STEPS: First, students watch a video of penguins dancing and follow along to learn some penguin dance moves! Then, they build their dancing penguin on top of their snowy back ground. First, they glue the black body, then the white belly/face on top, followed by the eyes and beak. Then they are given flippers and decided what moves they want their penguin to be making before gluing them down. Lastly, students choose a color for their penguin’s scarf (two 1”x6” construction paper strips) then use crayons to design and color a pattern. One strip is glued to the penguin’s neck and the other is folded like a “V” and glued to the scarf.