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Activities for The Emperor Lays an Egg
Before reading the book, discuss bird nests and materials. Predict how a penguin might make a nest on the ice without any trees, twigs,
rocks, etc.
Compare emperor penguins (up to 4 feet tall) with other penguins, including those that live near the equator in the Galapagos. They are
all flightless diving birds, but do they eat the same food?
Read about the Arctic. What animals live in the Arctic that never live in Antarctica?
What animals live in Antarctica that never live in the Arctic? Compare the North Pole (in the ocean) with the South Pole (on land).
Plan an expedition to Antarctica. Make maps. What equipment will be needed? Decide what to study. For instance, how do Antarctic fish
keep from freezing in the icy water? What birds come to make nests in the summer? What do the whales eat? What do the crabeater seals eat
and why are there so many millions of them? Hint: they compete for food with large sea mammals, whose numbers have greatly decreased during
the last century. What plants and insects can survive in this harsh climate? Why do researchers study core samples of the ice?
Cut and glue colored papers into collage pictures like the illustrations for this book.
The Antarctica Ice Sheet is the largest mass of ice in the world. Sometimes http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
has pictures of huge amounts of this ice breaking away from the continent to become icebergs. Some icebergs are so large they take many years to melt. With all this ice,
why in the continent of Antarctica called a desert?
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