Olaf might have helped snowmen hog the wintry limelight for more than a year now but, with their starring role in the John Lewis Christmas advert and their own just released feature film, are their black jacketed friends about to take the spotlight?  Monty the Penguin, best friend of Sam, has certainly won the department store the awww factor again this year whilst animated action film Penguins of Madagascar is appealing to comedy fans young and old.  If the black and white swimmers have waddled into your heart then why not introduce them to your printer too?

John Lewis’s Bringing Skills to Life website has plenty of resources on offer to allow children to continue the story of Monty the Penguin at home.  Its downloads include the activity cards Imagine a scene, Monty meets, Toy passport worksheet, Behind the scenes, Meet Mabel, Make your own Monty, Antarctic origami and Colour-in Sam and Monty’s den.  Plus, if you upload your children or pupils Monty’s Christmas work to the retailer’s gallery, there’s the chance to enter a prize draw too.

If you’re planning a festive family trip to the cinema then DreamWorks also has lots of resources available on its website to extend the fun of viewing Penguins of Madagascar.  Its printables include spot the difference, 3D baby Skipper box, special agent party kit, 3D Skipper toy, paper planes, spy kit, bookmarks, connect the dots and colouring pages.

Skipper, Private, Kowalski and Rico aren’t the only feathered screen stars to waddle into viewers hearts though.  If you prefer your penguins with rhythm in their flippers and are planning to re-watch Happy Feet at home this Christmas then take a look at Warner Bros website and its downloads including a growth chart, fun facts, mazes, stickers and song lyrics.

And, of course, their are millions of penguins out there that are just as cute even if they haven’t been caught on camera.

German design, interior and food blog Pretty Nice, founded in 2014, offers daily inspirations and DIY projects “all about creating a pretty nice life!” and provides its readers with stylish free printable Pinguin Geschenkpapier featuring cute flippered couples.

Time for Kids Antarctica Printables include the worksheets Penguin Time!, This Is a Penguin, Go, Penguins, Go! and Meet a Penguin alongside the activities Polar Exploration, Antarctica: Land of Ice, Exploring Antartica, The North and South Poles, From Pole to Pole, Ends of the Earth and Our World.

And Angela from Teaching Mama, a stay-at-home mom to three boys, has created a P is for Penguins letter pack for preschoolers – “in this printable packet, there’s practice on the following skills: Tracing, scissor skills, coloring, following directions, patterns, finding differences and letter recognition.

Kids craft and recipes website Craft Jr offers its readers a Christmas pinwheel template featuring a Santa-hatted penguin (or reindeer – “or even combine them into one pinwheel!”).  Its sister site Classroom Jr also hosts several worksheets based on more famous penguins – this time those featured in the book and film Mr Popper’s Penguins including a word search, vocabularly list and comprehension quiz.

If you’d like to create some felted rather than feathered versions then print out the pattern and have a go at the Penguin Finger Puppets Chels shares on her blog Fantastic Find – “Don’t forget the googly eyes!!”

Thinking ahead to after the big day and your post-Christmas post?  Prepare some thank you cards for fellow penguin fans with the help of My Dear Darling’s Free DIY Printable Thank You Papercut Art.  “‘Thank you’ is such a powerful phrase. I’d like to think that it has a similar effect on people as a smile,” writes Niko.  “You will need quite a bit of patience for this project… Start with the thinnest sections first. For example, I started cutting out the section between the eyes and mouth of the penguin first. This is so it’s less likely to rip.”

Do you love finding printables on the internet? Do you have particular favourites? Or have you featured some on your own blog? Email karen.malpass @ inkfactory.com with your links and we may be able to feature them in a future post.

December 1st: You’ve made your List but have you Checked it Twice?
December 2nd: Who’s been Naughty or Nice? Ask the Elf!
December 3rd: Have you got Christmas all wrapped up?
December 4th: Gifts too small to wrap? Put them in a box!
December 5th: Printable Christmas cards
December 6th: Happy St Nicholas Day!
December 7th: Are you dressing your tree this weekend?
December 8th: Do you want to print a snowman?