Craft Stick Penguins & Penguin Small World Sensory Learning Fun

These little craft stick Macaroni Penguins have been so much fun!! They are perfect for learning about penguins, they tie into some books we've read recently, and the kids have had a blast using them in imaginary play and in a Penguin Small World we made! I have all the details below!

A couple weeks ago we won a sweepstakes craft kit form Craft Project Ideas--it included these wide craft sticks, yellow craft feathers, and the adhesive wiggly eyes. My daughter absolutely loves penguins, so we decided to create some little "penguinos" to go with our Spanish lessons and penguin books! (Have you entered our Song School Spanish giveaway yet?)

Be sure to keep reading because our Penguin Small World is just below these instructions!

More Preschool Penguin Crafts

How to Make a Craft Stick Penguin

Simple Supplies:

wide craft sticks
adhesive wiggly eyes
black paint
white paint
yellow craft feather
orange craft foam
scissors & glue

Easy How-to:

1- Cut out beak and feet shapes from the orange foam and cut the feather into 1-inch long pieces.

2- Let your children paint the craft sticks black! My kids loved this part--they may have even got a little carried away with the black paint!

3- Stick the feet and beak onto the wet paint. If your child doesn't have enough paint to stick the foam to, just use a little glue.

4- When the glue is dry let your children choose what eyes they want to put above the beak.

5- Paint the top part of your children's finger white and let them press it onto the penguin to make the white belly. Alternatively, you can let your child choose the belly's color...my son insisted on a blue tummy!

6- Flip the penguin over and put a small pile of glue onto the back of its head right behind the eyes. Let your child stick the feathers on!

Ta-da! Your penguinos are done!!

At this point my kids took their penguins on a parade while they chanted, "Pen-guin-o! Pen-guin-o!"

We also made this Penguin Small World inside a bin for them:

The sensory bin included little stones, white cotton balls, and two fish. As we played, we talked about how penguins eat fish (and that coral fish do not live in the antarctic with macaroni penguins), what dangers the penguins have (my daughter did not want the shark in the picture!), and different ways penguins work with their environment. Then I stepped back and just let the kids play!

Do your kids love penguins? Be sure to grab my {FREE} penguin emergent reader and check out my new penguin board on pinterest!

And here are some affiliate links to Amazon for several penguin books, including my daughter's favorite penguin book, One Cool Friend: