Level 1: Arctic Unit Study

Let’s create a planet earth craft to review the continents, especially if you’ve already started to learn about them in past units. You will need this printable (print on green paper), a paper plate, blue tissue paper, white tissue paper, and glue.

After you have printed the map printable on green paper, cut out the continents. We’ve used simplified illustrations of the continents to make cutting easier. (For very young children or those with limited attention spans, you may wish to do this ahead of time.)

Next, cut or tear the tissue paper into roughly 1-inch squares. You will need more blue than white squares.

We will use the white squares to create the Arctic on our globe. You may wish to draw a faint line in pencil to show your child where to fill in with white, like this:

To fill in the globe, have your child wrap a square around their finger (or a pencil eraser), dip the end in glue, and then stick the scrunched paper onto the paper plate. Fill the top section in with white and the rest of the globe with blue to create the oceans.

Once the plate is covered, position and glue the continents into place and help your child identify each continent. (If the Antarctica cut-out isn’t the right size for your plate, you can freehand a semi-circle shape to stand or your child can create it with more tissue paper as they did the Arctic. Be sure to clarify that we used green to represent land—the real Antarctica is not very green!)

Be sure to identify the Arctic on the map. Show your child where you are on the map, too!

Did we mention it’s cold in the Arctic? In summer, the average temperature is 32° F (0° C). In winter, the average temperature is −40° F (−40° C)! Share this photo with your child and introduce a thermometer to them. If you have the real thing at home, that’s even better.

Explain that thermometers are tools used to tell temperature. We use thermometers to tell us the temperature of the air outside so we know how to dress when we go out, to tell us if we have a fever when we aren’t feeling well, to know what temperature to put the oven when we bake. How does a thermometer work? Let’s make our own to find out. You will need a clear glass jar with a lid that has a straw hole (or you can punch a hole through a metal lid with a hole puncher), a clear straw, a bit of playdough or air-dry clay, rubbing alcohol, cooking oil (any kind), and food coloring (optional).

To build your thermometer, add red food coloring, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup alcohol and a tablespoon of oil into the jar and mix.

Stick the straw through the straw hole and tighten the lid onto the jar.

Use your playdough to seal up the straw hole and hold the straw about a half-inch above the bottom of the jar.

Place your DIY thermometer outside in the cold or in the fridge and inside the house and look at the difference in how high the liquid rises in the straw in different temperatures. (Note: Our thermometer doesn’t tell you what temperature it is, but it helps you see temperature changes.)

How does it work? Many commercial thermometers contain alcohol because alcohol has a low freezing point. As the temperature of the alcohol increases, it expands and causes the level within the thermometer to rise. The level of the alcohol corresponds to the printed lines/numbers on a thermometer indicating the temperature. Our homemade version does a similar thing.

Use this snowball alphabet printable to practice letter recognition, matching lower case and upper case letters or building sight words. Remember to meet your child at their level—this can be used to practice skills they already know or to introduce something new. This is an activity you should do for a few minutes (5-15 minutes will likely be enough!) every single day this week to help reinforce a very mentally challenging skill. We recommend laminating the letters to help them last longer for repeating this lesson.

(+) Ready for more? Use the digraph and letter team snowballs to work on letter combinations. Once they know these letter combinations, practice building words that begin or end with that sound. Pro tip: Use one digraph at a time when introducing new sounds. We have also included blank snowballs to create your own cards, if needed.

Let’s take a closer look at Arctic animals. Here are photos with descriptions of some animals found in the Arctic. Tell your child one or two facts about each animal. If they show a stronger interest in any of these animals, click on the photo and it will bring up a new page with more details and videos. You can also print out these cards to add to your school room walls or to introduce these animals to your child off screen.

Let’s make a fluffy polar bear craft! You will need a paper plate, cotton balls, glue, and this printable (we recommend printing on cardstock or construction paper). Before you get started, cut out the polar bear features on the printable so your child is ready to craft. (Psst…while your child works on this craft, set up your bowl of ice water so it’s icy cold for your experiment.)

Let your child use glue to cover the paper plate with cotton balls.

Finally, have them glue the bear’s face and ears onto the plate. Give your new friend a pat!

How does the polar bear stay warm in that cold weather? This polar bear experiment will help us see how their fat, or blubber, keeps them warm! Before starting the experiment, ask your child how they think a polar bear keeps warm. They will likely say their fur, especially after our last craft!

This is true, but polar bears actually stay warm in another way! Under their fur is a thick layer of fat that keeps them insulated and warm. Most polar bears have about four inches of fat under their skin. This method of thermoregulation is actually so effective, polar bears sometimes overheat if they move around on land too much! (source)

Let’s demonstrate how the fat and fur of a polar bear keep them warm. You will need a bowl of icy water, plastic sandwich bags, a child-sized plastic glove (or you can use another plastic sandwich bag), shortening or semi-hard coconut oil, and cotton balls. You may also want to use tape to seal the bag around your child’s hand, but this isn’t required.

First, get your bowl of icy water. Have your child dip their hand in for as long as they can stand—it likely won’t be very long!

Ask your child how you could keep your own hand warmer in the water to get them thinking.

Next, have them put on a child-size plastic glove or a small plastic bag. In another small plastic bag, spoon some coconut oil (or you can use shortening or a similar fat). Have them insert their gloved hand into this bag and mush the fat around until their hand is coated. Finally, dip the bagged hand back in the icy water. How does it feel now?

Finally, have them remove their gloved hand from the bag and add a few cotton balls to represent the bear’s fur. Re-insert their gloved hand and stick it in the water one more time. How does it feel now?

Take out those figurines and let’s compare their footprints in the “snow” (AKA, play dough)! First, roll out some white play dough:

Next, use the figurines to make different track patterns through your “snow.”

How are they different? How are they similar? How could you identify an animal by their tracks in the Arctic?

Once your lesson is done, let this activity naturally turn into free play!

Let’s build our own igloo! You will need sugar cubes or mini marshmallows, a disposable bowl and plate (paper or foam works best), a toilet paper roll, glue, and scissors or a craft knife.

Begin by cutting a small “door” opening in your bowl. Cut about 2 inches off of the toilet paper roll to create the entry and glue them together, like this:

Next, glue the bowl to your plate. Now you are ready to create your igloo! Using the marshmallows or sugar cubes, start working your way around the bowl, using a dot of glue to add each “snow brick.”

Continue to add each layer until the whole thing is covered!

(-) Need something simpler? Color this igloo printable.

(+) Build an igloo with real ice for a bigger challenge.

Igloo counting practice. Print some of these igloo cards and laminate if possible. (You only need to print the cards with the numbers that you are currently working on at home—they range from 1 to 50.) Next, give your child mini clothespins and have them attach the correct number of clothespins to each card before moving on to the next to reinforce number values and counting skills.

Other ways to use these cards: Do you have a kinesthetic learner? Place the igloo cards on the floor and have your child stand on the cards as they call them out. If they are well secured to the floor, you can also have your child jump on the card after you call it out.

(+) Skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s is a good way to upgrade this activity and prepare your child for higher level math like multiplication.

Snow hunt activity. Use your Arctic animal figurines to build this sensory experience for your kids while they learn their names.

While you have the faux snow out, make a snow sensory bin! Help your child create their own wintery Arctic scene using their figurines, plants, sticks, rocks, and the DIY snow. Depending on which figurines you have, you may want to create a few different “habitats,” including water, land, and a combination of the two. You could also include any pinecones you have lying around from our Leaves Unit! (Don’t forget: Once you’re done, freeze the figurines into an ice tray or small bowls of water so that they will be ready for tomorrow’s ice activity.)

Sometimes things endanger the animals and plant life in the Arctic. Introduce the topic of oil spills, pollution, and environmental and ecological damage by asking your child, “Have you ever made a mess that seems impossible to clean up?” Explain to your child that this happens to grown-ups, too. Giant ships carrying oil sometimes leak or are damaged in some way and spill oil into the ocean. This has happened in the Arctic, and sadly it has caused a big mess that was really difficult to clean up. Today’s activity will help your child see just how difficult it is.

(+) If your child shows an interest in this topic or is older, read Oil Spill!. You can also listen to this read aloud of Oil Spill! on YouTube.

Next, do this oil spill clean up activity. (You can use your figurines for this activity, too, if you want to demonstrate that the animals will be affected by the oil spill. To help the oil be more visible, you can mix a bit of cocoa powder into it before adding it to the water.) As the blogger suggests, use this time to engage your child in a conversation about how we can contribute to protecting the environment and the animals that live there.

(+) For more of a challenge, try this spill activity that includes lab sheets for your child to fill out as their research.

Let’s do an animal ice rescue (while getting in some icy STEM work)! You will need your figurines, small bowls or an ice tray, and eye droppers. You can also add a bit of blue food coloring to the water before freezing, if desired. Before beginning, freeze the figurines in the small bowls or ice tray.

Present your child with the animals frozen in blocks of ice and tell them that they need to be rescued! (You will likely want to put the blocks on a tray with raised sides or in a sensory bin to catch the water as it melts.) Give them a small bowl of warm water and an eye dropper and encourage them to use drips of warm water to try to free the animal.

As they work, as them if they can think of other methods to free the animal. (There is no wrong answer, so let them try any techniques they can think of.) Not only will this get them thinking, it’s also a great fine motor skill activity!

(+) If your child is really engaged, try some of these other ice activities.

Let’s practice numbers with this simple snowball activity. You will need a piece of blue construction paper, white and blue circle stickers, and a black marker.

Begin by drawing dots on the white circles, numbering 1-6 to help your child work on quickly recognizing the numbers on dice faces. (Or you could do numbers 1-10 for more practice.) Place the white circles all over your blue paper. Next, write the corresponding numbers on the blue stickers.

Give your child the paper and the blue stickers and encourage them to find the number matches and cover the white “snowballs” with the correct numeral blue circle. Let them work until all the white snowballs are “melted,” or they are ready to move on.

(-) Still working on number values or want some fine motor practice? This simple snowball activity will help. Simply write the numbers on some construction paper or use your Igloo number cards from earlier in the week to get started.

Let’s examine this picture (called, “An Arctic Summer: Boring Through the Pack in Melville Bay”) by William Bradford today. Bradford traveled to the Arctic eight time, and he especially loved to paint the water. Here are some prompts to try when discussing this picture:

• Play I Spy and find the ship, the polar bear and the mast of a sunken ship.
• Have your child compare the ship in the picture to modern ones they might have seen in person. 
• Discuss the differences between the right and left of this picture, the light and the darkness. 
• If you were with us for the Clouds + Weather Unit, review the type of clouds in this picture. 

Let’s learn more about polar bear habitats and design our own. You will need a piece of brown cardstock, this printable (cut out the bears), glue, white paint, a clothespin and a pom pom (or you can use a sponge paint brush), and a pencil (optional).

Begin by explaining to your child that they need to create a den for the polar bears. It must have an air hole, an entrance, and the polar bears need to be enclosed in snow.

Next, have them glue the bears onto the middle of the page, like this:

Next, have them draft their den in pencil, showing the top of the snow, the entrance, and the air hole, like this:

Finally, let it snow! Using your pom pom and clothespin like a sponge, dab white paint onto the paper to fill in the snow of the den. It should look something like this (but the actual design may vary depending on your child’s ideas):

You can also add snowflakes above the den, if desired.

(-) Younger children may just want to paint in the snow around their bears. That’s fine, too!

While you have the paint out, let’s do a finger painting art project. First, cut out an arctic animal of your choice from this printable. (Printing on cardstock will make it more sturdy.) Using tape, attach the animal stencil to a white piece of cardstock.

Next, have your child use fingers or paint brushes to create a swirled arctic scene using blue, purple, and white paint over the entire paper. Then, remove the stencil to reveal your animal!