Penguin craft from Family-go.com.

The penguins of Antarctica are enjoying summer as we shiver through another northern winter. But you wouldn’t want to change places with the flightless bird. Right now, temperatures are hovering at about 11 degrees in Antarctica.

Penguins have bodies suited to living in one of the harshest climates on the planet, where temperatures can fall to more than 100 degrees below zero. They have short, thick, waterproof feathers, and their bodies are made of thick layers of blubber to keep them warm in cold water.

Penguins’ wings started to look more like flippers millions of years ago when they lost their ability to fly. The flippers help make them excellent swimmers, and they can swim about 8 miles per hour under water, using their feet to steer.

They look as though they are waddling when crossing land because they have short, stocky legs and tall, torpedo-shaped bodies. They hop readily over rocky ice slopes, but some slide, toboggan-style, on their bellies.

All penguins in the wild live south of the equator and feed on fish, squid, crabs and shrimp. Penguins need huge amounts of food each day to survive because they swim constantly.

Penguins make their nests in large colonies that may contain thousands of birds. Scientists believe they recognize each other by their voices, which sound like braying donkeys. And while they might travel thousands of miles from their places of birth, penguins usually return there to find a mate and breed.

You can make your own colony of penguins with pipe cleaners and directions from Disney’s Family.go.com. The penguins are standing on pieces of glued-together plastic foam.

Supplies:

• 1 12-inch black pipe cleaner for each penguin

• 1 2 1/2-inch white pipe cleaner for each penguin

• 2 4-inch black pipe cleaners for flippers for each penguin

• Pencil

• Bits of orange craft foam

• White craft glue

• 2 4 mm wiggle eyes for each penguin

Coil the long black pipe cleaner around a pencil and remove.

Turn the ends of the white pipe cleaner down to form hooks and attach one end vertically between the third and fourth coil from the top. Tuck the other end under the bottom coil to hold it securely.

For wings, fold a 4-inch piece of black pipe cleaner in half and bend the ends into hooks. Attach it by tucking the bent ends between the top third and fourth coils.

Cut a beak and feet from orange craft foam and glue them to the penguin.

Glue eyes above the beak.

Use white plastic foam to look like an ice shelf and glue the penguins on top.