Arctic Animals Preschool Theme

Below you can find tons of fun and engaging Arctic Animals Activities! Pick and choose preschool activities for your lesson or download a free copy of our Arctic Animals Preschool Lesson Plan to save you time!

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Planning your Arctic Animals and Ice Theme

Club Members can download all of our
Arctic Animals products and their Arctic Animals Theme Planning Guide for free!
Not a member? Learn More Here

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Download our Free Arctic  Animals and Ice Preschool Sample Lesson Plan

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Paper Plate Walrus

Love these paper plate Walruses! This is such a fun idea from  member Lauren B.! These look simple and fun to make, I love arts and crafts that use materials already on hand!

Paper Plate Polar Bears

Make a fun Polar Bear craft with your preschooler! 
Find the details on this easy and fun to make craft on my Polar Bear Paper Plate Craft Tutorial. 

try this!

                             Puffy Paint Polar Bear

Creating Art with puffy paint is so much fun, and it's simple to make! Simply mix up equal parts shaving cream and white school glue, add in some color if desired. Glue a black polar bear cutout onto a sheet of blue construction paper. Have your students cover the polar bear with white puffy paint.

Arctic Process Art

Make your own arctic inspired process art, by painting on frozen paper!

try this!

Polar Bear Snack

Serve up a fun theme related snack! See the directions on my Polar Bear Snack Tutorial

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Arctic Animal Parade Creative Movement Idea

Animal Parade: Play music and have children act like the animals while marching around the room--trot like caribou, swim like seals, or waddle like polar bears. They can move to the beat, practicing animal movements in a fun parade

​Arctic Animal Songs

Learn all about the different types of arctic animals with fun and interactive songs.

“The Polar Bear Song”
Tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"

Lyrics: Polar bear, polar bear, big and white,
In the snow, what a beautiful sight!
With your paws, so big and strong,
You can swim and walk along.
Polar bear, polar bear, in the cold,
You're so brave and mighty, bold.

Movement Ideas:
Waddle around like a polar bear.
Stretch out arms to mimic big paws and act like the polar bear is walking or swimming in the cold.Add a swimming motion to simulate a polar bear's ability to swim.


“I’m a Little Arctic Fox”
Tune: "I’m a Little Teapot"

Lyrics: I’m a little Arctic fox, quick and sly,
I run through the snow, so fast I fly!
With my warm fur, I stay nice and dry,
Hiding from the snowflakes in the sky!

Movement Ideas:
Scurry around quickly, pretending to be a fox running through the snow.
Curl up in a ball to mimic how the fox stays warm in its fur.


“Swim, Swim, Swim Like a Seal”
Tune: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

Lyrics: Swim, swim, swim like a seal,
Through the icy sea,
Flap, flap, flap your flippers,
Come and swim with me!

Movement Ideas:
Flap arms like a seal’s flippers and “swim” in place.
Other Variations:
Dive down low to the floor and then “pop up” like seals emerging from the water.
Splash with hands, mimicking seals splashing in the sea.


“Caribou, Caribou, in the Snow”
Tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"

Lyrics: Caribou, caribou, in the snow,
With your antlers, tall they grow.
Through the forest, you will roam,
In the cold, you call it home.
Caribou, caribou, so strong,
Running fast all day long.

Movement Ideas:
Pretend to be caribou by running or trotting in place.
Raise arms up to mimic the caribou’s antlers.Encourage children to move gracefully across the room, showing the caribou’s elegant movement through snowy forests.

 “Snowy Owl, Snowy Owl”
Tune: "The Wheels on the Bus"

Lyrics: The white snowy owl flies in the sky,
With wings so wide, oh so high!
The white snowy owl hoots so loud,
Hoo, hoo, hoo, through the night sky.

The white snowy owl’s feathers are so so white,
They help her blend in and take flight.
The white snowy owl’s eyes are so bright,
She sees in the dark, day or night!

Movement Ideas:
Flap arms like the wings of a snowy owl, flying high and gliding.
Hoot like an owl, putting hands over the mouth to make the “hoo-hoo” sound.
Pretend to turn your head from side to side like an owl searching for prey.


 “The Walrus Song”
Tune: "The Farmer in the Dell"

Lyrics: The walrus has big tusks,
The walrus has big tusks,
Hi-ho the derry-o,
The walrus has big tusks.

The walrus swims in the sea,
The walrus swims in the sea,
Hi-ho the derry-o,
The walrus swims in the sea.

Movement Ideas:

Waddle and flap arms like a walrus moving slowly on land.
Pretend to swim by moving arms in big sweeping motions, mimicking the way walruses move in the water.
Pretend to have tusks by holding up two fingers on each hand to mimic tusks and make walrus sounds (e.g., “arr-arr-arr”).

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Arctic Dramatic Play

Turn your Dramatic Play space into the Arctic this week. Add White Felt, and Winter Clothes.

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Suggested Materials for Arctic  Small  World Play

Creating an Arctic small world for preschoolers can be a fun and engaging way to help them explore the Arctic environment through sensory play, imaginative exploration, and hands-on learning. This setup will introduce them to Arctic animals, landscapes, and the idea of snow, icebergs, and cold environments.
Here are some suggested ideas for incorporating the materials you mentioned into the small world play:
Materials:

White Felt (to represent snow)
Foam Blocks (for building structures like icebergs, caves, or glaciers)
Arctic Inspired Magnet Tiles (for creating structures or landscapes like mountains, igloos, or ice caves)
Pretend Arctic Animals (polar bears, seals, penguins, Arctic foxes, caribou, walruses, etc.)
Foam Cubes (to represent ice, ice blocks, or ice floes)
Small Clear Plastic Containers (to represent icebergs, or could be used for water/ice play)

Make your own blocks

Make your own arctic animal blocks. Print real animal images, cut them to size, and use clear contact paper, or Mod Podge to secure the images to your blocks. This set of arctic animal blocks was created by our reader Erica P. of Erica's Educare Learning Center.

Photo Credit: Erica P. of Erica's Educare Learning Center.

Arctic Small World Play

Brrr.. the Arctic is cold. Invite your preschoolers to recreate the arctic! Set up a large water proof tray or a sensory bin, and include ice cubes in your small world play.

Glacier Sculptures

Here is a fun building challenge for preschoolers!
Build an ice sculpture with ice cubes!

Click on the image to view more details about this activity.

Arctic Animal Rescue

Freeze arctic animals inside of ice cubes and using droppers or spray bottles filled with warm water invite preschoolers to rescue the frozen animals.

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Match Uppercase & Lowercase Letters

These polar bear letter puzzles are a fun way to practice uppercase-to-lowercase letter matching. 
You can find these easy to assemble puzzles in the Arctic Animals Preschool Activity Pack.

This activity can be found in our Arctic Animals Activity Pack!

Polar Bear Paw Tracing

Trace the path of polar bear footprints in the snow to find the polar bear! Fun way for preschoolers to practice tracing and following a line from left to right.
Included in the Arctic Animals Preschool Activity Pack.

This activity can be found in our Arctic Animals Activity Pack.

Icicle Writing​

Break out the mittens, grab an icicle and get to writing!
Use the icicle on colored paper or on the sidewalk to practice writing letter or just scribbling lines and shapes. 

Arctic Animals Story time Activity

Pair a favorite Arctic book with our FREE Arctic Number Puzzles!  Into the Arctic by Roger Priddy is a wonderful book to share with preschoolers during this theme. 

The unique see-through pages capture children's interest as they follow along discovering new arctic animals and finding old favorites through the book. 

Download this activity for free in our shop!

Letter Icebergs

There are two fun ways to set up this activity. 
Freeze letters in individual ice cubes for children to melt and then identify the letter, or  use letter ice cube molds. Students can use salt water to melt the "letter icebergs", or float them in a sensory bin and arrange them to build their names.

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Read Some Arctic Animal Inspired Preschool Books

Over in the Arctic: Where the Cold Winds Blow
by Marianne Berkes and Jill Dubin

*Way Up in the Arctic 
by Jennifer Ward and Kenneth J. Spengler

Arctic Animals 
by Tad Carpenter

Mama, Do You Love Me? 
by Barbara M. Joosse and Barbara Lavallee

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*Arctic Animals Patterning

Practice Patterning with this activity found in our Arctic Animals Preschool Activity Pack.

You can find this activity in our Arctic Animals Activity Pack!

                           Iceberg Walk Game ​

Practice counting skills with an Iceberg Walk Game found in our Arctic Animals Preschool Activity Pack.. Preschoolers will roll the dice and animals will move from icebergs.

You can find this activity in our Arctic Animals Activity Pack!

Feed the Polar Bear Counting Game

For this game you will need a stuffed polar bear or photo, dice, a small basket and photos or cutouts of fish. 
Roll a die and announce the number shown. Then collect the same number of fish and add them to the basket to feed the polar bear. 

Size Up Animal Tracks

Look up the size of tracks from Arctic Animals, then make cutouts for children to measure using measuring tape or Unifix cubes. Children can compare their foot length to those of the arctic animals. 

As Big as a Polar Bear

A grown polar bear may be as long as 11 feet and weight as much as 1,000 lbs!
Create an 11'   polar outline on your carpet using masking tape. Have your students lay inside to see how they compare.

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Arctic Animals and Camouflage

This is a great week to discuss the word camouflage. Many animals in the arctic have white fur, that allows them to hide against white snowy backdrops.

How I Keep Warm in the Cold

While exploring this unit be sure to engage in discussion about how Arctic animals stay warm in such a cold climate. Challenge children to think about ways they keep warm. Some mechanisms are built in to the body, and others are ones humans invented. Invite children to engage in discussion about ways they keep warm and safe in cold weather. 

How do Polar Bears Stay Warm?

How do polar bears stay warm when it's freezing, snowing, and windy? Preschoolers are curious about how arctic animals stay warm without any winter gear.  Preschoolers love science, and explaining how polar bears stay warm is an excellent opportunity for science exploration. We have all the details for this experiment on our How Polar Bears Stay Warm blog post. 

Try this!

Matching Arctic Animals

Discover some of the animals that live in the Arctic with this animal matching game found in our Arctic Animals Preschool Activity Pack.

This activity can be found in our Arctic Animals Activity Pack!

Arctic Sensory Exploration

Create your own Arctic Sensory Experience. This Arctic Animal Sensory bin created by our reader Erica P. of Erica's Educare Learning Center. She included frozen ice chunks, glittery foam, and arctic animals.

Photo Credit: Erica's Educare Learning Center

For this Arctic Animal Sensory Bin created by reader Erica P. of Erica's Educare Learning Center, she included foam pieces which adds a building element to the sensory bin as well.

Photo Credit: Erica's Educare Learning Center

Where Animals Live

This Sort and Classify Animals set includes 6 different ways to sort & classify animals. 
This week explore where animals live with 8 different location mats. Talk about each location and why certain animals would or would not live there. Pay particular attention to the Arctic and animals that live there. Would a Polar bear live in the desert? Why/why not? How about the ocean, are Polar Bears found in the ocean....sometimes, but do they LIVE there? Hmmm....

Click here to purchase this resource!

Discover the Arctic

Since a field trip to the Arctic isn't a reasonable activity this week, explore Arctic Animals and geography via photos and videos. Like this fun video about walruses from Kids National Geographic. 
Print out some photos of the Arctic for children to examine with a magnifying glass as well. 
This is also a great time to point out the Arctic point on the top of a globe.

Polar Sensory Bin

Although Penguins don't live in the arctic, you can set up a "Polar Animal Theme" if you wanted to explore animals that live in cold weather climates.
Add ice cubes, including colored ice cubes, and a variety of animals to your sensory bin

A Keen Sense of Smell

A polar bear can smell it's prey under snow and ice up to 10 miles away. Get a better understanding of how a polar bear uses it's sense of smell (and how well it can smell) by conducting a smell investigation. Cut up slices of banana, lemon, and oranges. Place each of them on a paper plate.  While they are blindfolded, have your students try to guess the fruit. Freeze small pieces the fruit in ice cubes, and have your students repeat the experiment, by sniffing the ice cube to see if they can still identify the fruit.

Research an Animal

Have your preschooler pick an animal for the two of you to research together. Look up facts about the animal and watch videos to learn more. Then create a poster or diorama together. Sheena W. created this one with her child featuring a musk ox. 
Once the project is complete encourage your preschooler to share with family or peers and tell them about what they learned. 

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*Shape Clip Cards

Support fine motor development and hand-eye coordination with these fun shape clip cards from the Arctic Preschool Activities

Get our Arctic Animals pack in our shop!

Slide Like a Seal

Practice sliding like a seal! Challenge your preschoolers to move like a seal; Children lie on their stomach then push up on hands until their arms are straight. Then they move across the room dragging their legs behind them. Extend this activity with more animal movements, find more examples here: 13 animal moves to help with your child's gross motor development from Pathways.org

Move Like an Arctic Animal

Use the word wall cards from the Arctic Preschool Activities to inspire all kinds of creative movement with preschoolers!

Get our Arctic Animals pack in our shop!

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Where is the Arctic?

Break out a world map and find which part of the Arctic you live closest to. Take some time to learn about the landscape in the Arctic region, compare that to where you live. 

Flippers or Feet?

Some Arctic animals have flippers and others have feet. Sort them with this activity from the Arctic Preschool Activities pack then discuss the reasons for why each animal has flippers or feet. 
Look up photos that show what the habitat looks like for each animal. 

Click here to purchase our Arctic Animals Activity Pack!

Adaptations for Protection

Animals that live in the arctic have special features to help them survive.
White fur to blend into the environment, thick fur & body fat and more. Discuss some of these features and talk about ways humans protect themselves in a variety of environments. We wear clothing that helps us stay cool in hot weather, warm in cold weather, we can wear headphones when it's too noisy, glasses when we don't see well etc. This conversation can certainly be a great time to talk about adaptive equipment. ​

Changes in Weather

How does the environment you live in compare to the Arctic? Does it change throughout the year? Maybe you get snow in winter...this is a good time to work on historical thinking. Challenge children to think about how the weather changes through the year where you live. 

Polar Bears are Nomadic

Discuss the word nomadic. Polar Bears are nomadic animals-they wander from place to place. They travel over drifting icebergs and swim in the cold ocean.

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Finger plays, Songs, and Rhymes

Here are some fun Fingerplays, Songs, and Rhymes to use during your circle time and group activities this week. 

This Little Walrus from Mr. Mike TV
An Orca Whale from Jbrary

Themed Calendar

​Use the snowflake cards from the Winter Calendar Activities  set to customize your calendar activities to this theme. 

Get our Winter Calendar Games pack in our shop!

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Shop for Arctic Animals and Ice Products from Pre-K Printable Fun:

Arctic Animals Preschool Activity Pack

$7.00

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Animals Sorting and Classifying Mats

$4.00

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Free Over in the Arctic Where the Cold Wind Blows Preschool Book Companion Set

$0.00

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Winter Word Wall Activities

$4.00

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