Wild Summer Week Four: Puffins
Make a summer splash with these ideas from our guest Puffin!
Welcome to Week Four of our Summer Challenge, a free reading challenge all about pairing books with summer fun! If you’re new here, please jump right in! We are sharing book recommendations, discussion starters, activity ideas, and more now through August 11. Plus, we’re doing a giveaway at the end of the summer. Sign up today to be eligible to win!
These week’s guest is adorable, feathery, and has a big, colorful beak! If you happen to live near the coast of the northern Atlantic or Pacific oceans, you may have seen them in the wild before. We are very happy to introduce him to you today. Our special guest, Puffin! Take it away, Puffin!
Aw, thanks! I’m excited to be here. I know you’re hoping for a deep dive into puffin facts, but we’ll stick to the shallows for this one for the sake of brevity!
Puffins are great at flying and diving! We can dive down as far as 60 meters to catch yummy fish. But it’s not all work all the time. We love to hang out on the ocean surface too, resting on the rolling waves. Another nifty fact about us is about our beaks. They’re big and bright, which is why some people call us clowns of the sea. But our beaks aren’t always the bright orangey-red that we’re known for. In the winter, they turn a dull (and a little boring, if you ask me) gray color.
We puffins love to congregate on the coast and islands of the North Atlantic Ocean when it’s time to breed, and we usually pair up with the same mate year after year. When the time comes, we use our beaks and claws to dig burrows in the soil or in rock crevices, with a snug little nest at the back softened up with grass and feathers. The female lays one egg, and we take turns incubating the egg until it hatches.
If you’d like to know more about puffins, there are some great resources, such as this article from National Geographic Kids. And be sure to visit your library for some books about puffins and other sea birds, like those mentioned below!
Read: Try one of these great books featuring puffins!
P is for Puffin: A Newfoundland and Labrador Alphabet by Janet Skirving, illustrated by Odell Archibald. This book is all about Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the places that puffins call home. There’s a lot to learn in this rhyming ABC book!
Puffins, a National Geographic Kids Readers book, by Maya Meyers. This book is especially for pre-readers, and it’s a great introduction to puffins for kids just learning to read. It’s full of a lot of great pictures. There’s also a fun activity to try at the back of the book!
Nothing Like a Puffin by Sue Soltis, illustrated by Bob Kolar. I love this book because it is hilarious! This book is full of puffin comparisons. Do you want to know how a puffin is like a newspaper or a helicopter? Read this book to find out, and be prepared to laugh.
When the Fog Rolls In by Pam Fong. This is a nice book starring a puffin. It’s really not about puffins, but about finding your way through the fog. And the fog is a metaphor! In this case, it’s about finding your way again when you get lost or confused. If you like metaphorical picture books (and puffins!) you’ll enjoy this book.
Hawks Kettle, Puffins Wheel and Other Poems of Birds in Flight by Susan Vande Griek, illustrated by Mark Hoffman. This is a delightful book of poems and pictures about me and some of my other feathered, flying friends.
Puffling by Margaret Wild, illustrated by Julie Vivas. This book is a really sweet story about a little puffling growing up and going out into the world. It might be out of print, but look for it at your library or a used book store. You won’t be sorry!
Little Puffin’s First Flight by Jonathan London, illustrated by Jon Van Zyle. This is an exciting story about a little puffin growing up and heading out to sea on his own. It would be fun to read and compare this book and Puffling, mentioned above since they have the same topic!
Middle grade books
The Puffin Keeper by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by Benji Davies. This is a fairly short, illustrated novel about a boy who is rescued at sea by a lighthouse keeper, and the friendship the two form after the boy grows up. Together they nurse an injured puffin back to health, and that brings big changes to their lives and the island they share. If you like historical fiction, friendship stories, and puffins, you’ll enjoy this book!
Wind Riders: Whale Song of Puffin Cliff by Jen Marlin, illustrated by Marta Kissi. This short, illustrated novel is the story of two friends whose magical sailboat takes them to Iceland, where they help a colony of puffins and a beached beluga whale. It’s a fun fiction story that brings to light the problem of plastics in our oceans and the dangers it poses for wildlife.
Note: Some links will take you to the Read, Discuss, Do bookshop.org storefront. Purchasing a book from the storefront will support independent bookstores and help maintain Read, Discuss, Do at no additional cost to you.
Discuss:
Have you ever seen a puffin at the zoo? Or out in nature?
Have you ever mixed up penguins and puffins?
Were you surprised to learn that puffins are great fliers?
Do you have a favorite puffin book?
What is the most interesting or surprising fact about puffins?
Do: Try one of these puffin-inspired activities
Make a puffin burrow (blanket fort) in your family room. Be sure to put a soft and cozy nest at the back for your egg/puffling!
Go for a swim! Can you swim underwater like a puffin? If you’re with siblings or friends, make it a race. Or try a game of gathering “fish” (diving pool toys) underwater.
Visit some puffins, perhaps at a zoo or by watching them on a live feed. Here’s a puffin cam to check out.
Draw or paint a puffin. Here’s a fun art idea, with a printable template, from the National Nordic Museum.
Listen to puffin sounds.
Jam to some puffin tunes!
Nuffin Like a Puffin from Creation Connection (my personal favorite)
The Puffin Song by Tom Knight
The Puffin Song - Songs For Children by Roger William Wade
And, as always, you can download and print this week’s coloring page!
Thank you, Puffin, for all these great ideas!
We hope you are enjoying our Wild Summer so far! If you share about your experiences with the Summer Challenge on social media, use the hashtag #RDDSummerChallenge2025 so we can see it. You can also tag us or message us on Instagram, leave a comment on this post, or reply to this email.