Fact – penguins are adorable. But being adorable isn’t the only reason we are talking about them today. It’s Penguin Awareness Day and my seven year old daughter, the SeaWorld Guest Kid Blogger, is excited to share her favorite facts. We are also having some fun with a baby penguin art prompt. Sure, technically they are called penguin chicks, but “baby penguin” just sounds cute. The baby penguin art prompt is a great activity for home or the classroom. Add a few of my daughter’s fun facts and you’ll have a completed lesson plan.
The Penguin Encounter exhibit at SeaWorld San Diego offers an excellent opportunity to see several different species of penguins including the Adelie, Emperor, Gentoo and Macaroni. We regularly stop by to observe the penguins swimming and waddling in their home. The exhibit follows the natural light cycle of Antarctica and everyday water is sprayed into the exhibit to create new ice.
During our last visit we learned more about baby penguins. The fuzzy fat baby penguins are more cute in person than you can possibly imagine.
To celebrate Penguin Awareness Day, my daughter just shared the top five things she learned about baby penguins on the Inside SeaWorld blog. I have really enjoyed watching her love of animals and science grow over the past few years. Some of her earlier posts on the Inside SeaWorld blog include pengtastic penguins and learning about penguins at SeaWorld. Her general knowledge of penguins has grown immensely and although she has maintained her desire to work with sea lions, baby penguins are currently a close second!
Talking about penguins at home or in the classroom is easy. Add a few fun facts about penguin chicks and you’ll have a great opportunity to introduce the baby penguin art prompt.
Print the baby penguin art prompt printable from home. After discussing penguin chicks, introduce the art prompt and ask your child(ren) to draw the penguin’s environment.
My seven year old daughter incorporated a recent fact she learned and drew an adult penguin feeding the chick.
Some fun facts my daughter found fascinating:
- Penguin chicks are not born with the same waterproof feathers as their parents. It takes about a year for penguins to grow their adult feathers.
- Penguin fathers do most of the egg sitting.
- Some penguin parents aren’t as great as others so SeaWorld does intervene and take the eggs to an incubator. The egg is replaced with a fake one so the penguin parents can continue to practice for their next egg.
- Penguin chicks grow extremely fast.
- All penguins have a unique vocal.
Just this weekend while visiting the Wildlife World Zoo in Arizona, my daughter pointed out that not all penguins live in the cold. Surprising to most children, penguins are also found in warm climates.
For more fun with penguins, make a DIY macaroni penguin costume that can be worn all year long!
Learn more about these quirky birds in the SeaWorld Penguin Animal InfoBook.
Read why I choose to support SeaWorld if you are interested in our frequent visits to the parks.
Connect with SeaWorld San Diego on Facebook, Instagram, and with Clyde the Sea Lion on Twitter to learn more about the park and special events.
Disclosure: Our family receives complimentary tickets to SeaWorld and animal interaction experiences with many learning opportunities. All opinions are my own.