Fun Arctic Activities for Preschoolers & Kindergarteners

As the winter season rolls in, it’s the perfect time to dive into an Arctic-themed unit for your preschoolers. These activities are perfect for a mom looking for fun winter activities for your little ones. Or a preschool teacher planning your classroom’s next themed unit. Arctic activities are a fantastic way to engage young children with the wonders of the polar regions. From polar bears and arctic foxes to walrus and beluga whales, exploring the Arctic animals theme is a great way to introduce little learners to the amazing wildlife found in the coldest places on Earth.

Arctic Activities for Preschoolers & Kindergarteners: Winter Fun

Arctic activities for preschoolers offer an exciting way to explore polar regions’ cold-weather creatures and landscapes. These activities are entertaining and help young children develop fine motor skills and creativity. It’s a great way to keep the love for learning alive during the chilly winter months!

Arctic-Themed Craft: Walrus 

Crafts are always a great way to get preschoolers excited about a new unit. These Arctic-themed crafts offer so much fun and variety. 

This cute and easy walrus craft is perfect for little hands and a great way to work on fine motor skills. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide to create your own popsicle stick walrus! This walrus template is FREE.

Materials You’ll Need:

• 4-5 popsicle sticks
• Brown paint
• Googly eyes
• White, brown, and black paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Paintbrush
• Black marker
• Walrus template (download it at the end of the post)

Instructions:

Start by laying 4 or 5 popsicle sticks side by side. These will be the walrus’s body. You can use an extra popsicle stick broken in half and glued horizontally to the back to hold them together.

Have your little ones paint the popsicle sticks brown. This helps with fine motor skills as they use a small brush to cover the sticks. Let the paint dry.

Create the nose and mouth area using the template. Download the free template at the end of this post.

The light brown paper will create the mouth area. Then, cut the nose out using black paper. Cut out two small tusks from white paper. Glue them to the brown paper you created for the nose and mouth area.

Glue them together and onto the popsicle stick body of the walrus.

Add two googly eyes near the top of the popsicle sticks for the walrus’s face. Use a black marker to add some whiskers to the sides for extra detail.

And that’s it! You now have a fun walrus craft that’s perfect for an Arctic-themed unit or winter animal study. It’s simple, mess-free, and helps develop fine motor skills while letting kids be creative!

Arctic Animal Yoga: A Fun Movement Break

Need a movement break for your little ones? Try Arctic animal yoga! It’s a fun way for preschoolers to get active while pretending to be their favorite Arctic animals. You can even tie this into a dramatic play center, where they can act out the lives of wild animals in the polar regions.

Other great Arctic Craft Ideas

If you love the walrus popsicle craft, you’ll probably love these other arctic craft ideas. 

• Polar Bear Craft: Using cotton balls and paper plates, preschoolers can create their own adorable polar bears with fluffy white fur. This polar animal theme craft can even be used as a cute-themed bulletin board display!

• Shaving Cream Polar Bear: Get messy with this sensory-rich activity! Spread shaving cream on a sheet of paper and use it as “snow” to make a polar bear out of cut-out shapes. Preschoolers love the texture, and it’s a fun way to talk about polar animals and the Arctic region.

• Snowy Owl Craft: Kids can make their own snowy owl with big yellow eyes and fluffy white feathers using white paint and construction paper. This is a great time to talk about how these winter animals survive in the Arctic region.

• Paper Plate Arctic Fox: Help your little learners craft a sneaky Arctic fox from a paper plate, orange paint, and construction paper. It’s a simple craft that ties into learning about different Arctic animals.

• Snowflake Popsicle Craft: Create and decorate your very own snowflake with popsicle sticks this winter season! It’s a simple craft that kids can use to show their creativity and decorate it to their liking!

Arctic Sensory Bin: A Fun Way to Learn

A sensory bin is always a hit with young children, and an Arctic sensory bin is the perfect addition to your winter theme activities. Fill the bin with cotton balls to mimic snow, small items like plastic Arctic animals (polar bears, arctic hares, beluga whales), and ice cube trays for a bit of cold-weather fun. 

This provides a fun way to engage in sensory play and helps little hands work on their fine motor skills as they explore the different animals and textures. You can add free printables of Arctic animal fun facts or number-sorting activity pages to encourage literacy and math skills.

Winter Math and Literacy Centers

Now, the Arctic theme is great. But, if you are searching for literacy and math centers that are just winter-based. That’s available, too. With more than 40 kindergarten winter math and literacy centers, you are bound to keep your students engaged and eager to participate.

These winter-themed math and literacy centers can be used for morning work, small group activities, and more. 

Arctic Activities for Preschoolers & Kindergarteners

As you work through your Arctic animals theme activities, don’t forget to incorporate a themed bulletin board or window display! From polar bear masks to craft stick walruses, these simple crafts can be displayed in the classroom, giving your students a sense of pride in their creations. Winter months are the best time to introduce your little ones to the polar animals theme, and with all these fun and educational activities, your winter preschool theme will be a huge hit.

With these fun arctic animal activities, you’ll be building fine motor skills, sparking curiosity, and making the winter season even more magical for your preschoolers.

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Happy crafting! ~