6 Math Arctic Animal Activities for Preschool
Are you looking for an exciting and engaging way to teach preschoolers about arctic animals? With these fun math activities, you can help your students learn important early mathematics skills while simultaneously learning more about the fascinating world of Arctic wildlife. Try these activities for arctic animals for preschool.
Winter is full of lively preschool themes for January. An arctic animals theme is so fun, what with learning about polar bears hiding in the snow, arctic foxes plunging into drifts after mice, and snowy owls plummeting after the same, studying the polar animals that live in the arctic is an agreeable theme.
Preschoolers love learning about polar animals in these arctic animal preschool lesson plans.
These six printable activities for preschoolers are a must-have in your arctic preschool lesson plans.
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Arctic Preschool Centers$8.00
And we’re not just talking about all the most common arctic animals for preschool. These preschool centers also feature puffins, blue whales, caribou, walruses and other less commonly studied arctic animals (in preschool that is).
January and February is also the time where teachers are gauging how much their preschool classes know in the five disciplines in math, which are:
On the outset, these disciplines don’t look age appropriate, but early childhood experts are consistently emphasizing their importance in preschool.
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These preschool math games and hands on math activities are printable so you can add to your winter preschool centers, and best of all, the six printables also cover all five disciplines of math in a fun, engaging, and age appropriate way.
6 Math Based Arctic Animal Preschool Activities
Winter is already a magical time of year, but your winter lesson plans aren’t complete without these winter math activities for preschoolers and kindergarteners.
Take your class on an adventure with these arctic animal activities.
With all the planning we put into making our arctic animal theme fun, we don’t need to spend extra time worrying about our math and literacy centers. These six printable math activities use our favorite arctic animals and make learning math fun for preschoolers.
Arctic Animal Counting and Number Order Cards (Number Sense)
Preschoolers get a double dose of arctic fun with these counting cards. They also serve as number oder cards, too, which is an important number sense skill.
Select a counting card. Identify the number on the card and count the animals. Can you preschooler also name all the animals? Use a small manipulative, like gray buttons or white pom poms, to place over each animal as it is counted. Practice ordering the numbers in ascending and descending order.
Tundra Forest Shape Mats (Geometry)
When we think of the polar regions, we often think of polar bears living on icebergs. But when teaching kids about life in the arctic, it’s also important to teach about tundra forests, which provide so much food and shelter for arctic animals.
These shape mats are set in the snowy forest, and preschoolers get to seek out all the shapes. Place these mats in a dry erase sleeve and use a marker to trace the shape word, or you can also use playdough. Find all the corresponding shapes in the forest and place a small manipulative over each one, or use a playdough ball.
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Arctic Preschool Centers$8.00
Arctic Whales Roll and Sort (Algebra)
Often when teaching an arctic theme in preschool, teachers only focus on one whale — the Narwhal. In reality, the Beluga lives in the arctic, as well as gray whales, humpback whales, and even Orcas for part of the year. This sorting activity for preschoolers covers all of them.
Preschoolers practice so many skills as they roll the whale die and then place a counter or marker on the corresponding whale cards. What a fun way to work those fine motor skills.
Arctic Animals Making Weight Cards (Measurement)
Since so many arctic animals are massive, we had to include some weight measurement cards.
Preschoolers practice making matching weights using snap cubes with these measurement cards. Once they have all the cards completed, they can order the cards and see how some arctic animals are going to weigh much more or much less than others.
Polar Bear Roll, Move and Graph (Data Analysis)
This is a quick paced roll and count math game for preschoolers. Using a 1-3 die, roll the die and move your game piece the corresponding number of spaces.
Take a close look at the polar bear you landed on, because now it’s time to graph it on the score sheet! There are three different polar bears, so preschoolers get to practice those visual discrimination skills.
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Arctic Preschool Centers$8.00
Iceberg Addition Mats (Number Sense)
Place the addition mat in a dry erase sleeve or sheet protector. Cut apart the number cards and place in a pile near the mat. Have a set of small manipulatives near by such as buttons or even small arctic animal Toob toys.
Draw two cards, placing the cards on the mat to create an addition sentence. Add the corresponding number of manipulatives to each iceberg. Then, add them all together by moving hem to the final iceberg and identify the total number. Write the number in the empty box.
Children’s Books All About Arctic Animals
Take your arctic lesson plans up a notch by including quality arctic animal books for preschoolers. Here is a short book-list of our favorite books that teach young children about the arctic. These are great to read aloud to introduce your preschoolers to arctic animal activities.
- Grinslott, Billy (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 35 Pages – 04/18/2022 (Publication Date) – Arctic & Antarctic Animals Kids Book with Lifelike…
- Elert, Tetiana (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 32 Pages – 02/11/2021 (Publication Date) – Independently published (Publisher)
- Malkovich, Alek (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 42 Pages – 01/04/2021 (Publication Date) – Independently published (Publisher)
- Davidson, Molly (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 36 Pages – 01/02/2016 (Publication Date) – CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (Publisher)
Get Your Arctic Theme Math Centers Here
Your ice cube sensory bins and dramatic play centers might be covered, but what about math? Download these arctic animal math activities for your preschoolers.
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Arctic Preschool Centers$8.00
I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.