Penguin Activity Game: DIY Toddler Activity

When I first came across this "Feed the Penguin" game I was so excited to make it!  My son is totally into Penguins, thanks to the Swedish clay-mation show Pingu.  I also loved that you can use the fish for learning.  Since associating letters with words that start with the letter is a lot of fun for Liam (my son) right now, I decided to go with ABCs but you can also use numbers or shapes or words or pictures or whatever you can possibly come up with.  Admittedly, this activity did require a bit more parental help than some of the other projects that we have done, but my son was still able to be a constant part of the process and he has had SO much fun with the actual finished product.  I hope that you can enjoy it as much as we have so far!

Supplies:
Cardboard Box (about Graham Cracker box sized)
Construction Paper (Black, White, Orange)
Goggle Eyes (2)
Scissors
Tape (use good quality tape so that your wings stay attached)
Glue
Knife
*Optional: Glitter Glue (My son loves this stuff so we wrote out letters using it)

Directions:
Wrap the black construction paper around the box and tape it on. I only used 1 piece, so it didn't cover the top, bottom or the back of the box. But you can if you want to. 
Cut an oval shaped hole for the mouth with the knife.  Initially I tried to use scissors, but a knife worked SO much better. It doesn't have to be perfect, just big enough for the fish to fit in.  (You'll want to leave paper off the top of the box so that you can get the fish out after they get fed to the penguin.)
For the beak, cut a square out of orange construction paper. Then cut an oval shaped hole in the middle.  I found this was easiest with measuring it close to the hole that had previously been cut for the mouth.  Tape the beak onto the penguin.
Glue 2 googly eyes on the penguin (or cut eyes out of paper and glue them on).
Cut out a white oval for the stomach and glue it on.
Cut out 2 orange feet and glue them onto the bottom of the box.
Cut out 2 black, oval flaps for the wings and tape one on each side.

For the FISH:

Just draw a fish shape (easiest to draw an oval body with a triangle tail attached) onto a piece of paper and cut it out (Make sure it's small enough to fit in your penguin's mouth). Then use that fish as a template and draw some more fish on a piece of construction paper. Then place 2-3 MORE pieces of construction paper underneath and cut out the fish. (Saves time cutting out 3-4 at a time!)
Once you have all your fish, get a black marker and draw a dot for the eye and a little smile on each fish.
Then draw on whatever concept you want to teach: SHAPES, NUMBERS, LETTERS, MATH, WORDS, etc.  Because we used Glitter Glue to write out letters, I let them sit over night to dry completely. 
*Optional: For extra durability you can laminate (or use contact paper on) the fish so you can use them in other games later

Get your supplies out (don't mind the paint haha)

Wrap your box in black paper

Cut a mouth hole in the box with a knife

Cut a an orange square and an oval middle for the mouth and tape onto the box for the beak

Glue the Googly Eyes on

Showcase your gluing skills with glee

Clean up any excess glue

Cut an Oval out of white paper for the belly and glue it on

Check out how awesome it is looking so far

Cut out little orange feet

Glue the feet onto the bottom of the box

Cut out 2 long ovals for the wings and tape them on

Check out the finished penguin box in all it's glory

Cut out your fishies! 

Draw on an eye and a smile and write on whatever you would like, we did letters

If you would like to see our past DIY activities, check them out here:

Kool-Aid Dyed Pasta

Cardboard Owls

Alphabet Train

Make Your Own Rainstorm

Orange Sugar Scrub

Meditation Bottle