If I had all the time and money in the world, I would take my kids to the Arctic to see the animals up close. But since that isn’t going to happen anytime soon :-), I’ve been showing them brief videos of Arctic animals in action instead. Indeed, I’ve found a number of high quality YouTube videos that have been wonderful resources for teaching my kids about the animals of the Arctic.
Below are links to a number of online video resources you may wish to use with your children. I’ve included information about video length along with a brief description so you can select the videos you think your children will most benefit from. I hope your children enjoy using videos to learn about these amazing polar animals!
Note: For more Arctic learning resources, see my Polar Animals and Lands Unit Study page or grab my Arctic Unit Study.
Short video clips about Arctic animals
Arctic Animals and their Amazing Hair (1 min 11 sec): A short, narrated YouTube video from Earth Rangers focused on the adaptations that help Arctic animals (and plants!) to survive in the frigid Arctic climate.
Exploring Oceans: Arctic (4 min 29 sec): A YouTube video from National Geographic focusing on the Arctic animals that live in the sea.
Arctic animals (2 min 32 sec): A YouTube video from theyouthforanimals featuring a slide show of high quality photographic images set to music. Arctic animals featured including the polar bear, Arctic fox, walrus, seal, narwhal, caribou, snowy owl, orca, and more.
Polar bear (1 min 51 sec): This video on Arkive shows a polar bear moving over thin ice and swimming between ice floes.
Walrus and Polar Bears – Students on Ice Arctic Expedition 2009 (2 min 53 sec): A YouTube video from Students on Ice Expeditions featuring interviews with college students and footage of walruses and polar bears. Note: video includes footage of a bloody-faced polar bear eating the last bits of a seal.
Walrus Island Adventure with Polar Bears – Students on Ice Arctic Expedition (4 min 38 sec): A YouTube video from Students on Ice Expeditions featuring a large colony of walruses and narration by an Arctic expert. Note: video includes graphic footage of a bloody polar bear mom and cub eating a headless walrus body.
Polar Bears Hunt Seal in the Arctic Cold (3 min 11 sec): A YouTube video from FantasticAnimal shows a polar bear hunting for prey by waiting at a seal’s breathing hole in the ice. Although the polar bear catches and kills the seal in this video, it is not particularly graphic and there is no blood seen.
Musk oxen vs. Arctic wolves (1 min 46 sec): A YouTube video from myuniwork featuring an Arctic wolf stalking a group of musk oxen in an attempt to eat the baby calf. No killing takes place during the course of the video.
Longer videos about Arctic animals
Polar Bears versus Walruses in the Arctic (52 min 04 sec): This video posted by YouTube user Documentary Mothership shows life in the Arctic, including glimpses of daily life for the Inuit people who inhabit the Arctic year round. However, the video focuses primarily on what happens with polar bears and walruses confront each other. Some content involving the death of animals at the hands of both humans and animals and the viewing of bloody carcasses may be too graphic for young children.
Livin’ Large Like a Polar Bear (35 min 09 sec): This video from Polar Bears International was broadcast from the University of Wyoming’s Biodiversity Institute. It discusses how big polar bears are and how they got to be that size. The video also talks about various adaptations polar bears have developed to survive in the Arctic cold.
More Arctic learning resources
More Arctic animals posts from Gift of Curiosity:
- 9 Arctic animals learning activities
- Books about Arctic animals
- Arctic animal videos
- Arctic Animals Printables Pack
- Arctic animals camouflage activity
- Where Arctic animals live activity and printable
- Arctic ice sensory play
- Build an igloo
- Blubber experiment to show how animals stay warm
- Arctic animals do-a-dot printables
- Arctic animals Bingo
You’ll find more resources for learning about Arctic animals on my Polar Animals and Lands Unit Study page and my Polar Animals and Lands Pinterest board.
Follow Katie @ Gift of Curiosity’s board Unit Ideas: Polar Animals & Lands on Pinterest.
This is great, Katie! I love it for an Arctic unit! Thanks for linking up with Montessori Monday. I shared your post on Sulia. 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing Deb!
Thank you! This is great!