Who doesn’t like penguins? This penguin place mat craft could easily be turned into a plain old paper craft with white paper instead of a paper towel. You can find contact paper almost anywhere these days, both Walmart and Target carry it in my neck of the woods and, of course, the big craft stores do too! We use these place mats for play dough, crafts and yes dinner time too. Putting out the place mats for dinner is my son’s job so making something new and fun is a great way to keep it fresh!
- Gather your materials you will need 1 sheet of black construction paper, a sheet of paper towel ( paper will work too),contact paper, some glue, silver and blue sequins, 2 googly eyes, an orange marker, scissors and some white construction paper.
- Start by drawing an outline of a penguin with the marker on the black paper.
- Cut out and glue onto the paper towel.
- Add glue for the sequins.
- Add the snow – the sequins! This is awesome for fine tuning those fine motor skills. Those sequins are tricky.
- We had no orange paper so instead I had my son color this white piece to use for the beak and feet.
- Next cut out the beak and feet from the colored paper.
- Add the eyes.
- Add the beak and feet.
- Let dry – I didn’t because daylight and my ability for ok photos was fading fast in my cloudy sky town! But you will want to to avoid globs of glue stuck under contact paper.
- Measure your contact paper to fit – you will want to sandwich the place mat between 2 sides of a long rectangular piece. Peel back only half the backing , place the place mat face down on the sticky side. Doing it this way will prevent big bubbles and wrinkles on the front.
- Peel the rest of the backing off the contact paper and press to sandwich the place mat. Press firmly to seal.
- Trim the edges and voila!
Books !
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Tacky the Penguin 
Penguin Dreams
Lori says
This looks fun and easy. My daughter loves Penguins, especially the ones from Madagascar! We will do this one, thanks for sharing!
Natalie says
One good recent book about penguins that we read is Where Is Home, Little Pip by Karma Wilson. It’s such a cute story and perfect for Valentine Day too.
Karen says
Great ideas, love the craft. We just did a unit on the arctic and I would love for you to take a look.
Teri says
So cute! Another great idea for the penguin is to trace your foot (shoe-on) for the big black part & trace the little-guy’s foot (shoe-on) for the white inside part. Trace his hands (without fingers spread) for the wings & use wiggly eyes or white reinforcements for the eyes 🙂
Teri says
Oh and another great penguin story is Flip and Flop – great story about friendship & siblings! We’re doing Pp and penguins in both of my classes next week!
Ann W. says
Can I come and live at your house? Too sweet!
Amber says
I love this. That penguin is super-cute, he (she?) is making me smile. 🙂
Deborah Stewart says
I like how he colored the legs and feet!
nopinkhere says
Cute!
Another fun penguin book: Sergio Makes a Splash.
It’s about a penguin who loves water but is nervous about swimming in the ocean.
Ashley says
I love how you have a list of books (and a brief summary) to go along with each craft! Your site is a wonderful resource for homeschooling moms with young kids!
Michelle says
This is so cute, we did a penguin and book project this week too :0)
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..stART ~ If You Were a Penguin =-.
Kim says
Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton is also great. And it includes a link to the song (sung by Davy Jones.)
There’s also the fantastic book about gay penguins in the New York zoo… can’t remember what it’s called, but my daughter loved it to bit when we got it from the library.
.-= Kim´s last blog ..See Ya Later, Alligators! =-.
Zoe @ Playing by the book says
Another lovely project from you guys – and I’ve linked to it from my own Penguin post today – http://www.playingbythebook.net/2010/02/25/penguin-multiplication/. And your FAQs on today’s post are great by the way!
.-= Zoe @ Playing by the book´s last blog ..Penguin multiplication =-.
kittypunkz says
Thanks for share how to make penguin craft. My son love it! 🙂
Amanda says
I just adore penguins and learning about them. This week I posted 101+ activities and crafts to do with a penguin theme and included a link back to this post. It was sooo cute. I hope our readers stop by and visit your site! Thank you for inspiring others to craft, learn, and connect with their children.