Puffin Life Cycle and Parts of a Puffin Characteristics Science Printable

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This Puffin Pack with learning printables is great for preschool and kindergarten children. Use this resource with clear true-to-life images and photographs to create hands-on puffin activities for your students or for exploring marine birds and preparing work for your Animals of Europe and North America, Winter Animals Units in the classroom.

pufflin life cycle parts of characteristics montessori nature science printable (1)

Puffins are fascinating marine birds. They breed in colonies on coasts and islands. The largest puffin colony is in the Westmann Isles of Iceland. It has over 1 million birds. Atlantic Puffins form bonds for life and return to the same nest with the same mate each year.

Children will learn the stages of the puffin life cycle, puffin characteristics, and parts of a puffin, practice sequencing skills and work to improve their concentration and fine motor skills.

This resource contains a puffin life cycle diagram, worksheet, 3-part cards, information cards, puffin characteristics, and parts of a puffin printable.

pufflin life cycle parts of characteristics montessori nature science printable (1)

Here is what’s included

  • Puffin life cycle poster
  • Puffin life cycle 3 part cards
  • Puffin life cycle information cards
  • Puffin life cycle coloring, cutting, and pasting worksheet
  • Puffin life cycle tracing strips
  • Parts of a Puffin diagram
  • Parts of a Puffin booklet (independent writing)
  • Parts of a Puffin student activity page
  • Parts of a Puffin labels
  • Parts of a Puffin tracing & independent writing
  • Puffin characteristics color poster
  • Puffin characteristics black line poster
  • Puffin characteristics mat
  • Puffin characteristics color cards
  • Puffin characteristics tracing & coloring student booklet
  • Puffin Characteristics student booklet

Age: Preschool ages 3 – 6 years

Subjects and uses in the classroom: Marine Birds, Animals of Europe & North America, Winter Animals, Arctic Animals, Nature Table, Science Centers, Fine motor, Prewriting

How to use this resource:

Parts of a puffin – Gather books about puffins for children to explore. Print posters and label cards on cardstock and laminate. Cut individual label cards. Attach clear velcro to the poster without labels and label cards.

Present the poster – name all parts and invite the students to share their thoughts on the various functions of each part and do their own research. Then read each label and invite the student to match it to the corresponding part of the animal’s body.

Life cycle poster – print on cardstock and laminate. Present all stages of the puffin’s life cycle. Invite the children to retell them or tell their own story that features all the stages.

Puffin life cycle 3-part cards – print on cardstock and laminate if you wish to preserve colors and card quality for future use. Place picture cards in a column and invite the children to match the picture to the picture and the word to the word. Present control cards and ask the child to lay the stages of the cycle in the correct order.

Puffin life cycle line art – supply scissors, glue, and coloring pencils. Invite the student to color and cut cards and glue them into the correct sequence.

Puffin tracing/labeling and coloring worksheets – print on cardstock and laminate. Supply an erasable pen. Invite the child to trace the words and color corresponding images. Alternatively, print pages on regular printing paper and invite the child to trace or label the stages of the life cycle.

After reading books on puffins, children can be invited to name the puffin characteristics as they place picture cards onto the mat.

There are four blackline follow-up printouts available. These can be cut to make a booklet if you wish.

Younger children are invited to color pages or draw characteristics of the animal. Emergent writers are invited to use lined booklet printout sheets to write the characteristics down by answering questions. 

After completing the task volunteers may like to make a small group report about their findings.

Here is a fun activity you may like to try. Lay out the characteristics of penguins and puffins and invite the children to choose and identify animal characteristics these two creatures have in common and explore how they differ.

pufflin life cycle parts of characteristics montessori nature science printable (1)

Resources you might find helpful in your classroom

Exploring Arctic Animals - Children's Books and Learning Resources


  About Anastasia. Anastasia is a former Early Childhood Teacher and the founder of Montessori Nature, a blog about Montessori - inspired and Nature-based explorations. She taught in a Montessori setting for 10 years and has been practicing the Montessori way of learning and living for the last 20 years. She loves designing engaging educational printables for children. Browse Anastasia's educational resources on Teachers Pay Teachers.


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