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31 Fun Emperor Penguin Facts for Kids

Are you searching for emperor penguin facts for kids to teach your kindergarten and first grade students all about penguins? If so, you’re going to love sharing these fun facts. Later in the post, you will also find an amazing penguin facts writing activity for kids.

Before we get started on emperor facts, let’s look at some easy facts about penguins, in general.

Fun Penguin Facts for Kids

These flightless birds, with an adorable waddle, are often a part of elementary science lessons. You can gather penguin facts for kids with a trip to the zoo, watching a penguin facts for kids video, reading informational text about penguins, and incorporating this no-prep printable Penguin writing center – All About Penguins.

Penguins are birds.
Penguins have wings, but cannot fly.
Penguins use their wings to swim.
Penguins eat fish and Antarctic krill.
Penguins drink salt water.
Penguins cannot breathe underwater.
Penguins are excellent swimmers.
Most penguins live in the South Pole.
Penguins dive into the water.
Penguins have black and white feathers.
When an egg hatches, the baby penguin is called a chick.

Emperor Penguin Facts for Kids

The emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all penguin species.
The female penguin lays a single egg then leaves it behind. This happens during the cold climates of the Antarctic Winter months.
Emperor penguins have white bellies, a black head, pale yellow on their chests, and bright yellow ear patches.
Once the female lays her egg, she returns to the egg several weeks later.
t takes 65-75 days for an emperor penguin egg to hatch.
The females leave the male emperors to keep the egg warm. Their warm layer of feathered skin and heavier body weight will protect the egg until the females return to the nesting sites.
An emperor also has a flap of naked skin on its abdomen, called the “brood pouch,” that protects the egg.
Emperor penguin chicks have layers of scale-like feathers that are a silver-gray color.
They are the only species that breed during the Antarctic Winter.
The breeding season for emperor penguins is from late March through early April. The breeding grounds are on the sea ice or ice cliffs in the extreme temperatures of the Winter season. Large colonies travel to Haley Bay, located in northern-wester section of the Antarctic peninsula.
Emperor penguins are prey to leopard seals, fulmars and killer whales.
Male emperor penguins have an orange marking on their beak.
The female emperor penguin has a pink spot on their beak.
Emperor penguins are affected by global warming, because they heavily rely on the sea ice for survival.

More Interesting Facts About Penguins

The king penguins are the second largest species of penguin
Macaroni penguin, Emperor penguin, Fairy penguin, African penguin, Northern rockhopper penguin, Adelie penguin, Royal penguin, Yellow-eyed penguin, and Chinstrap penguin are some of the more popular penguin species.
Their layers of feathers, known as plumage. The black plumage and white plumage prevents heat loss and maintain body heat in the extreme temperatures and wind chills.
Penguins has a thick layer of blubber, or fat.
Baby penguins are called chicks.
Most penguins live in the southern hemisphere.

Penguin Facts Writing and Drawing Activity

As a part of the Building Sentences resources, I have created a special addition to highlight the fun and easy penguin facts for kids.

Building Sentences: Penguin Facts for Kids, is a leveled, print-and-go, resource to support your lessons plans about penguins and arctic animals. It comes with no-prep, printable, worksheets where kids cut and paste the word tiles to build a penguin fact, and spaces to write and draw about the penguin fact. 2 levels are included in every Building Sentences resource.

Level 1 (seen below) has the sentence printed at the top of the worksheet.

Level 2 (seen below) does not have a sentence printed at the top of the worksheet. Instead, they will read the word tiles, and try to put together a penguin fact on their own. For extra support, they can refer to the penguin fact page (also included).