Polar animals are so much fun to explore in the primary classroom! I love diving into this topic in the winter months with my students. If you’re getting ready to begin a study of polar animals, you’re in the right place. Come along to see some of my favorite polar animal books, activities, and teaching ideas for the primary classroom!
Introducing Polar Animals
As I mentioned above, we usually tackle the topic of polar animals in the winter months. I find that this makes a great study topic for January or February, after the holidays, but still smack dab in the middle of winter! Many students have likely never seen polar animals in real life, making them a mysterious and engaging topic to explore. Since I know that my students likely don’t know a whole lot about these creatures, I like to begin with some fun, educational videos to introduce them.
There are so many great, free resources available on YouTube for this. For example, this video takes kids on an adventure in the Arctic. Many new vocabulary words are introduced in this video and it provides a great visual of where polar animals live, what they look like, and what they do in their environment. This would be a great resource to kick off your studies on polar animals in the classroom.
When I use videos like this in my room, I like to take a poll afterward and see which animals the students are most interested in learning about. This is a great time to chat about experiences seeing polar animals at the zoo or on vacation. You never know what kind of fun story one of your kids might have to share! And if no one has seen these animals before, don’t worry… The books and activities I’m sharing today will be a great way to give them a closer look.
Polar Animals Books
After briefly introducing polar animals to your kiddos, it’s time to dive a little deeper. My favorite way to do this is with picture books. I have a huge collection of children’s books that we use for read-aloud time. Whenever we start a new unit or begin to explore a new topic, I like to gather up all of my favorites and check the library for some additional options. This way I can read a book or two on the topic each day before we dive into some learning activities. Here are a few of my favorites for studying polar animals:
Who Lives Here – Polar Animals by Deborah Hodge
This book is such a great way to teach students not only about polar animals, but their habitats too! Students will learn interesting facts about emperor penguins, snowy owls, beluga whales, and more. Topics covered include how these animals stay warm, where they find food, and how they raise their babies in such cold climates. The kids always like to flip through this book after I read it aloud.
Arctic Animals by Jennifer Szymanski
This non-fiction reader from National Geographic is another great read-aloud to use in your classroom when studying polar animals. This book is great because it’s written in simple language for beginning readers and also features bright, real-life photos that students will love.
The Frozen Worlds: The Astonishing Nature of the Arctic and Antarctic by Jason Bittel
This is such a beautifully written and illustrated picture book! Inside you’ll find colorful layouts that use both illustrations and photos to show students the details of freezing climates. This book is great to read just a little bit each day because the pages are jam-packed with tons of great info.
Polar Animals by Wade Cooper
Next up this book is filled with real photos and fun, rhyming text. Inside, students will learn. about many different polar animals including polar bears, penguins, walruses, arctic foxes, seals, and more! This book is another one that students like to look at closely. I tend to make it available for them to flip through after I have read it aloud.
Penguins Don’t Wear Sweaters! by Marikka Tamura
If you’re looking for a whimsical read-aloud about polar animals, I know you’ll love this one! In this book, students will listen in as a group of penguins encounter an oil spill and get covered in grease. This oil interferes with how the penguins stay warm in the icy climate, so some humans who arrive in their area want to warm them up so they put sweaters on the penguins. But, penguins don’t wear sweaters! Listen in to hear what happens and how the problem is solved.
Polar Animals Lapbooks
My favorite activities to apply what we have learned about polar animals are lapbooks. If you’ve never used lapbooks before, you’re in for a treat! They are a bit like a smaller version of an interactive notebook. We use manila folders to create the base for our lapbooks and then as we learn interesting facts and information about polar animals, we add foldables and “flippy flaps” to the book.
When we’re done, we have a visual record of everything that was covered in one neat little package! The kids love taking these home to show their parents. We use 3 different lapbooks while learning about polar animals to study some of the most popular animals in depth.
Polar Bear Lapbook
First up, polar bears! Inside this lapbook students will organize a variety of information about these incredible animals. Some of the activities include:
- Polar Bears can/have/are
- Label a Polar Bear
- All About Polar Bears
- Polar Bear KWL
- Polar Bear Vocabulary
- Polar Bear Facts
These activities are great to use after reading books that specifically talk about polar bears. Students can pick and choose the information they’d like to include and recall some of the vocabulary and facts they learned. These activities are great to use as a whole group, in small groups, or even during center time. Each time we complete a piece of the lapbook, I simply have the students add it to their books and by the end of the week, we have a really fun project all about polar bears!
Penguin Lapbook
Penguins are another animal that we study in depth in my classroom during our polar animals unit. The kids love these silly creatures and so do I. They certainly seem to have a lot of personality when you watch them interact with other penguins! The penguin lapbooks are great for taking note of some of the unique things that penguins do in the wild.
My students especially love the activity that compares penguins to polar bears! We do this one right after we finish the polar bear lapbook so the information is fresh in their minds. I am always so interested to see what stood out to my kids and what they noticed about penguins in comparison to polar bears.
I also love the “If I were a penguin” writing prompt in these lapbooks. Since my kids think penguins are so fun, they are pretty quick to point out all the cool things they would do if they were penguins!
Walrus Lapbook
Last on this list is another classroom favorite, our Walrus Lapbooks! Walruses are pretty unique creatures as well and there is a lot to learn about these giant arctic creatures. In this resource, there are many different activities to complete including:
- Label a Walrus
- Walrus Facts
- Walrus Predators/Prey Activity
- How do walruses stay warm writing prompt
- Compare Walrus & Seal
- Compare Walrus & Polar Bear
- Class Walrus Graph and more
The great thing about the activities in all 3 of these lapbooks is that we can pick and choose which ones to use. This allows you to differentiate if you plan to work on these in small groups or simply pick and choose the activities that will work best for using with your whole group. I love the versatility!
More Lapbook Activities
I love working on one lapbook per week when we’re studying polar animals. This gives us some time to study a specific animal in-depth and work through all of the different activities. While I love the hands-on learning aspect of lapbooks, I also like to use digital versions from time to time as well.
The digital polar animals’ lapbooks include everything that the regular ones do except in a digital format for Google Slides. I like to use both of these resources together so that my kids get the most out of these activities. I tend to project the digital version up on the board as a teaching example for my students. They love being able to follow along and it makes for a great visual as we’re learning. This resource also includes multiple web links with videos that contain more information. This is a great activity to kick off the day when you’re studying polar animals!
Then, I can assign the digital activities during center time for students to work on with a partner. This is a lot of fun and presents a unique opportunity for technology integration in the classroom. Not to mention, students LOVE to drag and drop their answers into the correct spaces on the slides. And of course, these digital activities also work really well for at home learning too! Winter is, after all, the time when many of those home learning days happen. All you need to do is assign to specific students and you’re good to go!
Make Planning Polar Animals Activities Fun and Easy
Want to simplify your planning for this topic? Be sure to check out the Polar Animals Lapbooks Bundle as well as the Polar Animals Digital Lapbooks Bundle. These resources include all of the activities mentioned here to make studying polar bears, penguins, and walruses fun and easy! Each one is jam-packed with fun activities, so all you need to do is choose some picture books to use alongside them and you’re ready to go! I know you and your students will love using these resources to study polar animals.
Looking for More?
Check out these posts next for more fun winter learning ideas!
- 6 January Activities for Kindergarten
- 5 January Fine Motor Activities for Winter Learning
- 3 Fun Winter Counting Games for Primary Learners
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