What better way to get our preschoolers excited about the changing seasons then to play with animals! Especially when those animals look so cuddly and warm like polar bears, arctic foxes, and penguins! These 5 arctic animals activities and winter crafts for preschoolers encourage creativity, fine motor skill development, and listening skills. We hope you enjoy!
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Book Recommendations:
A beautiful story about what different animals do during the winter time.
We love Eric Carle books, and this one is no different. While all the animals aren’t arctic animals, the classic polar bear makes this a great addition to the bookshelf!
The classic story of The Mitten is a great story to talk about animals and their different sizes!
Toy Recommendations:
While we love Schleich animals, this polar bear and penguin set is almost as gorgeous! For a fraction of the price! Great for sensory bins and creative play!
And if you just want to get one set that covers a large amount of arctic animals, this is a nice one with lots of penguins, arctic foxes, seals, and more.
Of course, we have to include the classic Schleich polar bear in our toy list! (Although this one is often out of stock, so we ended up with the set to the left!)
Having animal figurines makes arts and crafts time much easier for little people since they can visualize what you are making easier. This Schleich moose is great for the moose project we do in this Activity Plan!
Make an adorable fluffy polar bear using cotton balls and this free printable! Then write the letter A and allow your toddler to trace the letter with more cotton balls to practice letter recognition.
Check it out and get the free printable here:
Adorable Polar Bear Craft for Preschoolers
Sensory bins are a great avenue for creative play as your kiddos get older. This Arctic Animal sensory bin is filled with fake snow, cotton balls, Arctic animals, and scoops. Creative Play and fine motor skills are at work!
Using playdough with animals is a great way to add a new layer to creative play! With our Arctic foxes, Little Miss was able to experiment with making footprints and other patterns in the playdough.
For extra practice in learning the letter A, print a large “A” and then have your little one “trace” the letter with playdough. (You will want to laminate or put the paper in a plastic bag for easy clean up.)
Practice pen grip and making dots with this easy activity. After looking at pictures of Arctic seals, add dots to your own.
This moose painting is absolutely adorable, crazy fun, and great practice in so many areas. Check out how to make it in this post.
Winter Crafts For Preschoolers: Make This Adorable Moose Painting
What’s your favorite Arctic animal? Let us know in the comments below!
For more Winter fun check out these posts:
