30 Fun Facts About Penguins for Kids

Penguins are birds that gave up flying in the air to "fly" underwater instead. They live in some of the coldest and windiest places on Earth, and they're full of clever tricks for staying warm, finding food and raising chicks. Here are 30 fun facts about penguins for kids and classrooms.

After reading, print a few winter animals from our animal coloring pages, or make your own penguin page with the AI coloring page generator.

Penguins are birds

1. Penguins are birds, even though they can't fly. They have feathers, lay eggs and have beaks.
2. Their wings are flippers. Stiff and strong, they're perfect for swimming.
3. There are about 18 kinds of penguins. Scientists sometimes count a few more or fewer.
4. Penguins have lots of feathers, packed tightly to keep out cold water.
5. They have a layer of fat under their skin for extra warmth.

Where penguins live

6. Almost all penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere. You won't find wild penguins at the North Pole.
7. Not all penguins live in snow and ice. Some live on beaches in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South America.
8. The Galápagos penguin lives near the equator, the only penguin that sometimes crosses into the Northern Hemisphere.
9. Emperor penguins live in Antarctica, one of the coldest places on Earth.

Big and small

10. The emperor penguin is the tallest, standing about 1.1 to 1.2 meters (around 4 feet).
11. The little penguin (also called the fairy penguin) is the smallest, about 30 centimeters (1 foot) tall.
12. King penguins are the second largest, with bright orange patches on their necks.

Swimming superstars

13. Penguins are fast swimmers. Gentoo penguins are thought to be the fastest, reaching around 35 km/h (about 22 mph).
14. Emperor penguins can dive more than 500 meters deep, deeper than any other bird.
15. They can hold their breath for a long time; emperors can stay under for around 20 minutes.
16. Penguins "porpoise": they leap out of the water while swimming, like dolphins, to breathe and move faster.
17. Their black-and-white colors are camouflage. From above, their dark backs blend with the deep sea; from below, their white bellies blend with the bright surface.

Eating and drinking

18. Penguins eat fish, squid and krill (tiny shrimp-like animals).
19. They swallow food whole. Backward-pointing spines on their tongues help them grip slippery fish.
20. Penguins can drink seawater. A special gland above their eyes removes extra salt, which drips out through the beak.

Families and chicks

21. Most penguins mate with the same partner year after year.
22. Emperor penguin dads keep the egg warm on their feet under a fold of skin called a brood pouch, for about two months in the Antarctic winter, while the moms go to sea to feed.
23. Adélie penguins build nests from pebbles, and good pebbles are so valuable that some penguins steal them from neighbors.
24. Penguin chicks are fluffy and gray or brown and can't swim until they grow waterproof feathers.
25. Groups of chicks huddle together in "crèches" while their parents hunt.

Staying warm and safe

26. Emperor penguins huddle in big groups and take turns moving to the warm middle.
27. Penguins molt once a year, losing all their old feathers at once. They stay on land until the new ones grow.
28. Penguins slide on their bellies across ice, which is called tobogganing.
29. Their predators include seals, orcas and some seabirds.
30. Many penguin species are threatened by climate change, overfishing and pollution.

Penguin coloring ideas

• Penguins are great for practicing blacks and grays. See what colors make black for rich, mixed blacks.
• Add icy blue backgrounds using tips from what colors make blue.
• Put a penguin in a holiday scene with our Christmas coloring pages.