5+ Arctic Animal Activities & Free Nomenclature Cards
Arctic animal activities are a perfect addition to your winter activities for preschoolers! These free Arctic animal nomenclature cards are an excellent resource for hands-on learning, helping kids explore polar habitats, animal names, and early literacy and math skills.
Whether you’re teaching an Arctic theme or adding something fresh to your preschool lesson plans, these cards provide endless opportunities for fun and engaging activities. Let me show you all the ways to use these cards.

Arctic animal activities provide a fun and interactive way for preschoolers to learn about the fascinating creatures that thrive in icy habitats.
These free Arctic animal nomenclature cards are incredibly versatile and can be used for a variety of engaging winter activities for preschoolers. From simple matching games that build visual discrimination skills to counting and sorting activities that reinforce early math concepts. Teachers can also use them for vocabulary-building exercises, helping little ones learn the names and characteristics of animals like polar bears, arctic foxes, and seals.
Whether used in small group lessons, sensory bins, or as part of a literacy station, these Arctic animal cards bring learning to life while keeping children curious and engaged.
Why Use Arctic Animal Nomenclature Cards
Nomenclature cards in a preschool setting are basically vocabulary cards, and there’s a million and one ways to use them in your classroom. Here is a quick preview of some of the activities that are supported by vocabulary cards.
- matching animals
- describing arctic animals
- arctic animal riddles
- matching animal names
- game of Concentrataion
- card game Go Fish
Arctic Animals Learning Activities for Preschoolers
There isn’t really a reason to pick and choose from this list of arctic animals learning activities. Some fit in just right to your arctic theme preschool centers; some of them work well in small group settings or can be used during circle time.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that at no cost to you, I may earn a small sum if you click through and make a purchase.
What’s Included
The free printable includes twelve arctic animal vocabulary cards. They include:
- Caribue
- Beluga Whale
- Arctic Fox
- Arctic Hare
- Barnacle Goose
- Snowy Owl
- Polar Pear
- Harp Seal
- Walrus
- Norwhal
- Orca Whale
- Arctic Wolf
Materials
- free arctic animal matching cards
- Safari Ltd Arctic TOOB (optional)
- Wild Republic Polar in Nature Tube (optional, and remove the penguins)

Recommended Arctic Animal Toys (Optional)
Arctic animal toys are not necessary for using the matching cards, but they add a fun hands-on element These cards are designed to pair with the arctic animal tube sets, if desired.
Here are my favorite arctic animal toys for preschoolers.
- Great value: thirteen Polar toy figures, Polar bear, Walrus, Penguins, Orca and many more.
- Size: approx. Size of these highly detailed, Hand painted and durable Polar figurines are 2” to 3…
- Multi-use item: perfect for imaginative play, school projects, dioramas, ice age party favors, cake…
- Icy Adventure: Prepare for a frosty journey with our Arctic Bulk Bag. This toy set introduces kids…
- Diverse Range: The collection includes 10 unique, hand-painted designs. Find nine different animals:…
- Size and Color: Each Bulk Bag measures 8 inches by 7.5 inches. The Arctic figures within the set…
- Arctic Animals Big Party: 18 pieces small polar animal toys make up this set, including 2pcs arctic…
- Delicate Texture& Hand Painted: As animal toys for kids, our sea animal figures are designed with…
- Early Education Tool: With true-to-life details, active poses, these sea animal toys can easily help…
Arctic Animal Learning Activities for Preschoolers
There’s nothing I like better than having a single printable that I can use in multiple ways. It saves me space when sorting my printables, but it also makes my thematic lesson planning that much easier.
Be sure to read about all the arctic animal activities you can do with these matching cards.
Arctic Animals Learning Activity #1 – Matching Animals
Print out two copies of the arctic animal matching cards and place them in a pile on a tray. Invite your preschooler to make matches.
Have the cards facing upwards so that your preschooler can see all the animals and sort the duplicates to make matches. This is one of the first steps in teaching visual discrimination, which is an important pre-reading skill.
Encourage your preschoolers to say the names of the animals as they match them, too.

Arctic Animals Learning Activity #2 – Describing Arctic Animals
You can also use the cards to develop oral language skills by inviting your preschoolers to talk about what they see in the picture cards. Encourage them to name physical characteristics about each animal.
If your preschooler gets stuck and isn’t sure what to say when trying to describe the animals, help them by asking questions.
- Where does your animal live? (water or land)
- What color is the animal?
- What might this animal eat?
- Does this animal have fur?
- How does it stay warm?
- Does this animal live in groups, or does it like to live by itself?
Preschoolers may not know the answers to these questions right away, but this is a good way to start teaching preschoolers about the different characteristics of animals who live in the arctic.

Arctic Animals Learning Activity #3 – Arctic Animals Riddles
This activity is especially fun for circle time.
Lay out the arctic animal cards for your preschoolers to see or put them in a pocket chart. Secretly choose one of the animal cards and give your preschoolers clues about the animal. See if they can guess correctly based on the clues given.
These riddles are not written out on the cards; they are just clues you can make up on the spot.
- Which animal has antlers?
- Which animal has a fluffy tail?
- Which animal hibernates underground?
- Which animal has long tusks?
Of course, you always have the option to start with a really broad clue and then give more specific clues. This is always fun for the preschoolers.

Check out these 20+ free arctic animal printables.
Arctic Animals Learning Activity #4 – Matching Animal Names
You may have noticed that these matching cards are designed like Montessori nomenclature cards.
For an added literacy element, print two copies of the cards and cut the names off of the second copy. Then invite your preschooler to select a card and find both the matching pieces.

These are also called “3-part cards.” You can read this article to find out more about how nomenclature cards can be used with preschoolers. In Montessori practices, there’s a very specific routine that I sometimes like to add to my teaching strategies.
>>> What are Montessori 3-Part Nomenclature Cards? <<<
Arctic Animals Learning Activity #5 – Concentration
If you make two printouts of these cards, you can also play concentration games. Simply cut out both sets of cards, mix them up, and lay them on the table face down. Then take turns flipping over two cards at a time to see if they match.
Concentration (or Memory–the game can be called either name) is very appropriate for developing preschool critical thinking skills.

Even toddlers can play memory games! Try starting with fewer matching sets, like 3-4 sets at a time, or just leave all the cards face up in rows and ask your toddlers to take turns finding matches.
Arctic Animals Learning Activity #6 – Go Fish
Another easy game to play with these cards is Go Fish. Print out four copies of the cards, cut them out, and mix them up. Divide the cards equally among all players and then play a typical game of Go Fish.

Arctic Animal Printables
- Arctic Animal Alphabet Activities
- 6 Arctic Animal Printables for Preschool
- Arctic Animal Coloring Pages
- Polar Animal Do-a-Dot Worksheets
- Arctic Animal Printable Crafts
- Arctic Puffin Card Craft with Pritnable
Grab Your Free Arctic Animal Vocabulary Cards Here
Think you can use these cards while doing an arctic theme in your classroom? Grab your own copy by clicking the image below, and then don’t forget to try out all the extra ways to use these cards, too!

Arctic Animal Matching Cards
These arctic animal cards can be used for more than matching activities. Try all six arctic animal activities.
Print this sheet to file away with your arctic animal matching cards. This sheet does not include the cards. The cards must be downloaded from above.
Materials
- Free arctic animal printable
- heavy card stock
Tools
- laminator (optional)
- arctic animal toys (optional)
Instructions
To prepare:
- Download the free printable included in the post.
- Print on heavy card stock.
- Laminate for added durability (optional).
- Cut apart the cards.
Activities Using Free Arctic Animal Matching Cards
- Matching Animals - Print out two copies and invite your preschooler to make matches while the cards are face-up on the table.
- Describing Arctic Animals - Have your preschooler select a card and describe the animal. If your preschooler struggles for details, ask prompting questions.
- Arctic Animal Riddles - Lay out the matching cards for everyone to see. Secretly select an animal and then give clues about the animal for your preschooler to guess.
- Matching Animal Names - Print out two copies of the cards and cut apart. Cut off the names from one set of the animal cards. Have your preschooler then match both the animal and its name.
- Play Concentration - Print two copies of these cards and play a traditional game of Concentration or Memory.
- Play Go Fish - Print two copies of these cards and play a game of Go Fish.
Notes
Please read the post 5+ ARCTIC ANIMAL ACTIVITIES & FREE ARCTIC ANIMAL CARDS for specific details on how each activity might need to be prepped slightly differently. Some activities require cutting off the animals names, while others do not.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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.
I just stumbled across your post & blog ~ winter art project. Thank you for sharing what I am sure will be a big hit with my Kindergarteners. Your blog is inviting and filled with engaging attainable activities with a purpose. (How refreshing!!). I also appreciate how you have shared a variety of possible extensions which can be used within your chosen theme. Looking forward to visiting your blog on a regular basis!!