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Penguin Species

There are 18 species of penguins. Students will collaborate to learn about and sculpt them out of Model Magic.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Index Cards

Steps

  • Step 1

    Penguins live in diverse environments, from Antarctica's icy waters to the Atacama Desert in Chile and Peru. They also vary greatly in size and population numbers. Have students name as many species as they can think of. They might come up with ones that are more commonly known, such as emperor, Galápagos, Adélie, or African. Have them look up the names of the ones that weren't mentioned.

  • Step 2

    Have the class form nine teams, and assign each team two species of penguin. Ask them to learn about each species. Where does it live? What does it eat? How big does it grow? What is its current population, and are there any threats to its survival? They can label an index card for each and add a few facts to the cards.

  • Step 3

    Ask each team to create models of its two assigned penguin species out of Model Magic. Use paint to indicate the different-colored features on the penguin.

  • Step 4

    Have each team present their penguin models and some information about the species. When all teams have presented, display the penguins with their info cards in the classroom.

Standards

SCI: Ask questions about the features of phenomena observed and conclusions drawn from investigations or models. 

SCI: Design pictorial or graphic representations/models that are useful in communicating ideas. 

Adaptations

Encourage students to watch a live penguin webcam transmission, such as the one at Monterey Bay Aquarium (montereybayaquarium.org) or the New England Aquarium (neaq.org). Have them review some of the educational info about penguins on those websites.

Have students investigate some of the fossil species of penguins and their significance. For example, the Waimanu genus of penguin, which lived over 60 million years ago, is one of the most important bird fossils for understanding the origin and evolution of birds.