Penguin Perler Beads (35+ Free Patterns)

Penguin activities are so fun! These penguin perler beads are perfect if you love this cute animal from the southern hemisphere.

I love it when we do animal crafts on this blog. The reason being, I love doing research. And any time a new animal appears in my life (whether by crafts or otherwise), I have to learn all about it.

How many are there? Where do they live? What do they eat? What is their gestation period??

It’s like I’m writing an optional book report that my teacher said I could do for extra credit. And yes, I was sometimes one of *those* kids.

And I still am at 46 years old.

This week’s study? The majestic penguin. We made a bunch of penguin perler beads for winter activities, and I’ve learned a lot.

I’m curious if you know any of these facts. Maybe your local 40+ year old doing animal research has already told them to you recently? Here are five unique facts about the penguin:

Fact One: there are 18 species of penguins, ranging from the tiny Little Blue Penguin standing around 13 inches tall to the Emperor Penguin standing up to 45 inches tall. Um – I had no idea penguins were *that* tall!

Fact Two: Using their flippers for propulsion and their feet and tail for steering, some species can reach speeds of up to 22 miles per hour in the water. That’s pretty fast!

Fact Three: Emperor penguins, which are best adapted to the cold, can survive the harsh Antarctic winter where temperatures can drop down to -76 degrees Fahrenheit (-60 C).

Fact Four: They spend up to 75% of their lives at sea. Their eyes are adapted to see clearly both above and below water. I thought it was more of an equal time on land and at sea!

Fact Five: Most penguin species are monogamous, often returning to the same partner for breeding each year. Emperor Penguins are famous for their parenting because the male balances on the egg and covers it with a brood pouch.

I hope these facts help to illustrate just how fascinating and diverse penguins really are! Now if you’re ready to try the penguin perler beads . . .

Remember that perler beads are recommended for ages six and up, so this is a very fun craft to try with kids. They love perler beads (also known as hama beads, fuse beads, or melty beads). But don’t be shy – adults love them too!

Tips for Using Perler Beads

Before we get into the patterns, I want to review a few basics of using fuse beads to make sure you get the best results. If you don’t want the tips, scroll down to the bottom to get the penguin perler beads!

Remember that the overall goal is to melt the beads together on both sides while still leaving the holes open. Here’s how you get the best results (using a rainbow as an example).

Use Ironing or Parchment Paper

Place ironing paper or parchment paper over the beads on the pegboard. Be gentle so you don’t disturb the beads underneath.

Heat your iron to the medium setting (no steam). In a circular motion, begin to iron the project. Don’t press down too hard with the iron.

When ironed properly, the beads will still have an open center. Check and make sure your edges are melted. Let the design cool on the pegboard.

Note: BE CAREFUL about lifting up the paper while you’re ironing! If you want to check, carefully peel back paper around the edge of your design and see if all the beads are melted.

If you lift the paper up quickly and there are a lot of unmelted beads, they will easily fall off or go flying and you may be forced to start over. Sometimes the edges need more time so when you check, just check the edges and peel paper back slowly.

Peeling back the paper to check if the beads are melted

Another Note: some beads melt faster than others (clear melts faster than white, for example). So some holes might be larger than others. It’s okay! That’s part of the look of the project.

Iron the Other Side

Remove the bead design from the pegboard. Flip it over to the non-melted side and repeat the fusing process.

Ironing the other side of a fuse bead design

Remove the Paper

Let cool completely and remove the paper again (which is reusable). Some people pull the paper off after they iron the first side, but I just wait until the end and peel off both pieces. It’s up to you!

Peeling the ironing paper off the finished project

Now if you’re ready for the penguin perler beads, here are the patterns.

Penguin Hama Beads

Make sure to check out these notes:

A few of these patterns are larger than a 29 x 29 pegboard, so you’ll either need a extra large pegboard (49 x 69 tall) or to put multiple square peg boards together to form a larger “canvas.”
In addition to square pegboards, you’ll see round and hexagon pegboards. These are fun to have in your arsenal if you plan to do a lot of perler-ing.
You’ll see a couple of the pattern backgrounds below aren’t white – that’s simply to give contrast so you can see where all the white beads should go. You don’t need to add the background (but you can if you want to).
Don’t stick to my colors necessarily. Customize with your favorite color beads!

Colony of Penguins

There are six different penguins to choose from out of the small patterns below.

Happy Little Penguins

The penguin on the left uses 43 white, 65 black, 68 dark gray, 2 blush, and 3 cheddar beads. The penguin on the right uses 53 black, 34 white, 48 parrot green, 48 light green, and 12 cheddar beads.

Wearing Scarves

The pattern on the left uses 35 white, 42 pastel blue, 28 black, and 10 orange beads. The pattern on the right uses 30 evergreen, 31 dark gray, 25 white, 2 black, 1 yellow, and 53 gray beads.

Tuxedoed Birds

Both of these patterns use small hexagon boards.

Colorful Faces

Both of these patterns use small round boards.

Winter Gear

These patterns use 109 light lavender, 156 black, 101 white, 29 tangerine, 10 toothpaste, 8 blush, 15 sky, and 2 light blue beads.

Kawaii Penguin

This pattern uses 103 black, 167 white, 2 pink, and 12 cheddar beads.

Cute Gray Penguin

This pattern uses 264 gray, 194 white, and 14 cheddar beads.

Little Waving Penguin

This pattern uses 64 light blue, 44 white, 2 black, 3 yellow, 2 pink, and 68 robin’s egg beads.

Short and Cute

This pattern uses 182 black, 190 white, and 27 spice beads.

Hair Bow

This pattern uses 152 black, 21 light blue, 158 white, and 22 apricot beads.

Christmas Presents

This pattern uses 81 black, 76 white, 8 lagoon, 14 apricot, 24 orange creme, and 7 sherbert beads.

Emperor Penguin

This pattern uses 95 black, 18 orange, 1 blueberry creme, 8 red, 10 yellow, 92 white, 6 gray, and 6 sand beads.

Dancing Penguin

This pattern uses 258 black, 298 white, 30 light gray, and 13 orange beads.

Holding a Balloon

This pattern uses 184 black, 35 parrot green, 5 light green, 146 white, 1 clear, 26 apricot, 24 salmon, and 3 blush beads.

Wearing a Bow Tie

This pattern uses 162 black, 188 white, 16 orange, 6 flamingo, and 28 raspberry beads.

Sitting Around

This pattern uses 196 black, 163 white, 56 cheddar, and 62 orange beads.

Riding a Sled

This pattern uses 48 red, 19 white, 24 black, 16 orange, 10 yellow, 21 light blue, and 40 mint beads.

Large Penguin

This pattern uses 219 black, 79 dark gray, 140 white, 26 orange, and 67 light gray beads.

Mama and Baby

This pattern of a mother penguin and her baby uses a large hexagon board.

Emperor Penguin and Babies

These patterns use 148 black, 39 dark gray, 37 white, 304 light gray, 60 gray, 7 sky, 6 toothpaste, 11 honey, 21 pastel yellow, 6 spice, and 147 cream beads.