Penguin Weaving Craft and Math Game

Help your learners practice paper weaving with our cute little penguin from the Pond Coloring Club today! Weaving paper through slits provides an opportunity for you to help your students develop fine motor coordination and also model some mathematical language - up, over, down, back, front, through, in, out etc.

For this one I cut 5 strips of black paper 1 inch thick to weave. Prepare for this to be challenging for students, it always is - but worth the patience. Allow plenty of opportunities for your students to develop this skill over the year and get better at it over time.

Always print extras or have clear sticky tape ready for repairs as there will be a few students who tear their penguin as they try to work the paper through the slits. If you can organize some additional helpers in your classroom for weaving activities it is highly recommended!

Observe your students and note the ones who can persist, problem solve, ask for help, demonstrate patience and of course weave. This will give you some ideas for planning social skill lessons in the following weeks. Perhaps too, some gross motor activities for PE involving up/down, over/under, in/out etc.

Here is a little math warm up game you can implement with one of the crafts when complete.

Penguin's Iceberg

tell students that penguin likes to go behind/in front of his favorite little iceberg
as he does today, 2 is going to be added to his chosen number (addition strategy, 2 more than)
select a number tile to position on a mini whiteboard (iceberg) and write +2 on it or 2 more
slide penguin from the side, and behind the iceberg (whiteboard)
as he slides, students can say 5 and clap 2 more times to model the 2 being added to penguin's chosen number
choose a child to find the number tile to match the new total and replace the one on the iceberg
repeat, having students take on various roles to support
make it more challenging with larger numbers or subtraction
make it more challenging with other addition strategies - double, bridge to 10, bridge to 20 etc