Kids of all ages love learning about animals and their habitats, especially kindergarten and 1st grade. When cold winter days come around it's the perfect time to learn all about the cold and icy Arctic with cute polar bear activities.
Polar Bear Activities
As soon as January hits, we're ready to learn about everything winter and that includes the snowy Arctic circle! What better way to integrate science and writing into your week than learning all about arctic animals – specifically polar bears!
We begin this mini-unit with a PowerPoint presentation all about polar bears. The students learned all about the natural habitat of the polar bear. We learn all about the Arctic regions, the polar bear's den, and how polar bears keep warm in winter. Did you know that polar bears do not actually have white fur? Their fur is made of clear tubes that appear to be white with the reflection of the sun.
Your students will love learning all about this animal, its habitat, and how it survives in the deep cold weather in this polar bear unit.
Shared Writing Activities
Next, we worked together in shared writing to create a large graphic organizer web all about polar bears. Shared writing is when the teacher and students work together to jointly construct a written text, The teacher acts as the scribe and the students tell her the words to write. As I was writing I used this as an opportunity to point out how to form the letters correctly, how to sound out words, and how to leave spaces between words. This is a great way to demonstrate how to complete a graphic organizer with your class.
The students helped me brainstorm everything we learned about polar bears in our PowerPoint presentation. They told me some of the different things that they learned about polar bears and I wrote it on our graphic organizer. This is the perfect activity to get students involved in the writing process.
We also reviewed some of the new vocabulary that we learned in our PowerPoint presentation. The students learned new words like blubber, iceberg, and carnivorous. We learned that the polar bear is one of the largest land carnivores. These vocabulary cards are the perfect addition to help young children learn new vocabulary words about the polar regions.
Polar Bear Blubber Experiment
Do you know how the adorable polar bear stays warm in those icy cold waters of the Arctic region? This blubber experiment is the perfect way to show younger kids how blubber keeps arctic animals warm.
We gathered all the materials that we needed for our experiment and used this Polar Paws anchor chart to keep track of our data. We worked together to fill in the information on our chart as we did each step. We started with the question “How do polar bears stay warm in icy water?” Most of the students thought that the polar bear's thick fur helped it to stay warm. Let's take a look at the steps of our experiment.
Step 1 – Gather Materials
For this experiment, you'll need a bowl of ice water, a rubber glove, a tub of Crisco, and a ziplock bag.
Step 2 – Icy Water
Tell the students that you're going to discover why polar bears can stay warm in the icy water of the Arctic. When I asked my students why they thought this was possible, they said it was because of their thick fur!
Choose a couple of students to dip their hands in the icy water and tell you how it feels. Discuss what would happen if a person tried to swim in this kind of water.
Step 3 – Add the blubber
Explain to students that polar bears have a thick layer of blubber on their body which is like fat. This is what helps keep them warm in the icy waters.
Choose a student to put on the rubber glove and cover it with a thick layer of Crisco. Tell them that this represents the blubber on a polar bear paw. Place a ziplock bag over their hand. This keeps the Crisco from making a huge mess in the water.
Have the student dip their hand into the icy water and compare the difference between the bare hand and the blubber hand. Afterward, complete the anchor chart with your students.
Writing Polar Bear Reports
Next, it's time for the students to show what they've learned in your polar bear unit. Students can use all of the different activities to help them write their polar bear report. Have them look back at the vocabulary cards, Powerpoint presentation, graphic organizer, and polar paws experiment. Once they've reviewed all of this information, they can use this informational writing template and write a report about polar bears.
Polar Bear Craft
When the students are finished with their report they can make a cute bear craft. Begin by giving students half a sheet of white construction paper. Have students tear the white paper into small pieces and set it aside in a pile. This is a great fine motor activity for young children. If you prefer, you can have students use tissue paper or cotton balls. Next, give each student a sheet of blue and gray construction paper. Have students tear the gray paper in half and glue it to the bottom of the blue paper to represent the snowy landscape.
Give each student another sheet of white paper and have them trace a big polar bear face. Next, have students glue the torn white paper to their bear template and then glue this to the blue paper. Use black paper to make eyes and draw a mouth with black crayon. Add some snowflakes with white crayon or chalk. if you want, you can have kids make front paws to add as well. These adorable baby polar bear crafts will make a great addition to your winter bulletin board displays.
If you're ready to take the plunge into the snowy Arctic, head over here to grab your copy of this informational writing unit on polar bears! This resource includes Google slides, and pdf digital files with activities for pre & post-assessments, informative writing activities, polar bear research, worksheets, mini books, polar bear coloring pages, 2 different science experiments, and a polar bear craft.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hi, I'm Molly, the creative mind behind Firstieland. With over 35 years of experience in early childhood education, I'm your primary support for resources that will save you time and make learning feel like play. Learn more about my mission for Firstieland here.
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