Penguins 

How do penguins stay dry

You will need:

A print out of a penguin,
Wax crayons,
Water spray.

Get your child to colour the whole penguin including the white bits. Make sure it's covered well in crayon. Then ask your child to spray water on a plain piece of paper, talk to them about how the water is soaking right through.
  Then get them to spray the penguin, pick up the paper and see the water running off. Talk to them about what is happening and how the wax makes the paper waterproof just like the wax in the penguins' feathers.
   Button loved this experiment and couldn't wait to tell Daddy all about it when he got home. Something so simple can really help teach and will be remembered. She went on to tell other family members and it really sparked an interest in water and what else was waterproof.

Penguin art
You will need:
White card,
Paint,
Brushes,
Black and white paper,
Scrap paper,
Blue pen or crayon,
Glitter, buttons, wool. Anything you want really,
Glue.
Start by asking your children to cover the whole sheet of white card in paint. They can be as creative as they want but they need to try and cover the whole sheet. 
  While its drying get your children to draw a big U on the black paper and a smaller U on the white paper and then cut them out. This will be their penguin. Then fold a small piece of the black paper and get them draw a skinny D these will be the flippers when cut out. Glue this all together. Then get them to draw an iceberg on the white paper with the blue pen and then cut that out as well. Once the paint has dried they can glue their penguin and iceberg in place. Now they can decorate their penguins with the scraps etc you put together. Button gave hers a scarf, hat and jumper. 
  
  This was a lot of fun and Button really took on board the instructions and did a great job of cutting along the lines she had drawn. This was the first time we did controlled cutting (along lines and not just snipping) and I was suprised that she did what I asked without the usual 'I can't do it'. I think she actually liked being able to do it and has since been utilising this new skill, drawing before cutting things for herself. 
   Her final piece was amazing, she was so pleased with it and so was Mummy and Daddy.
 

Penguin sentence

This was a nice activity to get Button writing. I decided to sit down with her and just talk about penguins. What they look like what they do, what they eat, what eats them. Button did some waddling and pretended to dive. She even pretended to be a daddy penguin sitting on the egg. It was a great way to help her remember the facts. We then made a list of these key penguin verbs: dive, swim, waddle. Then key physical features: feathers, beaks etc.
   I then asked Button to tell me two of her favourite facts in a short sentence. I wrote them on the white board and got her to copy them. I was really impressed with her concentration and handwriting.
    We then made a penguin with ear muffs and stuck her brillant sentences on his tummy. She couldnt wait to show Daddy when he got in from work.