DINOSAURS


QUICK START IDEAS
Read Dinosaur books.
Bury plastic dinosaurs in your sand box (or table).
Make large dino feet for your child to wear, from Kleenex boxes.
Stop around room like your favorite dinosaur.
Let your child play with dinosaur puppets.
Make dino cookies using a dinosaur cookie cutter.
Encourage your child to make up their own dinosaur stories.
Visit a Natural History Museum to see fossils and dinosaur bones.
Do crayon rubbings over cardboard dinosaur shapes.
Roar like you think Dinosaur’s roared.
Walk like a dinosaur walking on four legs.
Divide toy dinosaurs into two groups, meat eaters and plant eaters.
DINOSAUR ART
MAKE-BELIEVE DINOSAUR PICTURES
Give your children extra-large pieces of paper.
Invite them to use crayons, markers and paints to create giant pictures of make-believe dinosaurs.
Ask your children to think about how their dinosaurs would be different from known ones.

Extension:  Give your children small magazine pictures of houses, cars, trees, etc., for your children to glue onto their pictures to make their dinosaurs look really gigantic.

 
DINOSAUR PATTERN ART ACTIVITIES – and other dinosaur activities can be found at the Pattern Station – under Dinosaur Activities.
DINOSAUR GAMES

DINOSAUR MATCHING GAMES
Set out several picture books about dinosaurs for your children to look at.  Using one of the books, point to one of the dinosaur pictures.  Then ask the children to see if they can find the pictures of the same dinosaur in any of the other books.  Continue with different dino pictures.
Add a set of plastic dinosaurs to the dinosaur books you have set out.  Can the children match the plastic dinos to pictures in the books?
 
DINOSAUR HUNTS
Try one or more of these games with your children.
DINOSAUR BONES - Hide paper “dinosaur bones” around your room for your children to find.
DINOSAUR EGGS - Place small toy dinosaurs in plastic eggs.  Mark each egg with a different sticker and attach a matching sticker to each child’s hand.  Hide the eggs and have the children find the one that is theirs by matching the stickers.
DINOSAUR PUZZLE -  Draw a giant dinosaur on a piece of posterboard.  Cut out the shape and then cut it into pieces; legs, feet, head, neck, torso and tail.  Hidethe pieces and then invite your children to search for the pieces and put them connect them all back together into a giant dinosaur.
DINOSAUR LANGUAGE
DINO STORY
Place small plastic dinosaurs in a bag.
Sit in a circle with your children.
Remove one of the dinos and start a make-believe story in a ways such as this: “It was sunrise, time for T-Rex’s breakfast. ‘Grrr, I’m hungry!’ he roared.”
Then pass the bag of dinosaurs around to the next person in your circle.
Have that person, take out a dinosaur and incorporate it into the story.
Continue until everyone has had a turn.
You could tie up the story at the end.
 
PRESCHOOL EXPRESS DINO STORIES – go to the Story Station and look for the dinosaur stories: “Dotty the Dino” and “Daisy the Dinosaur”.
DINOSAUR SCIENCE
MAKING FOSSILS – WITH CLAY
Use a favorite recipe to make clay that will harden when dry.
Give your children balls of the clay to flatten into rounds and how to press small shells or leaves into the clay to create a clear impression.
Finally, have the children gently remove the objects and allow the clay to air dry.
When the clay hardens, display their “fossils” on your science table.
 
MAKING FOSSILS – WITH PLASTER OF PARIS
Bring clean chicken or turkey bones to class.
Have the children place the bones in packed, wet sand to make an impression.
Then, carefully remove the bone and pour Plaster of Paris into the indentation.
Remove the plaster cast when dry and display it on your science table.
 
DINOSAUR DISPLAY
You will need a box lid, some brown and blue play dough, some rocks, twigs and small plastic plants.
Give your child a box lid and have them cover the bottom with the brown play dough.
Next, have them cover a water area with blue play dough.
Then have them add some rocks, twigs (for logs) and some vegetation – plastic plants.
Finally, give them some small dinosaur figures to add to their Dinosaur Display.
 
Extension: You may want to be really authentic and help your child add a Volcano to their display environment.
Set out a small juice can.
Have your child cover the sides of the can with brown play dough.
Pour some baking soda into the bottom of the can.
When you want the volcano to explode, add some vinegar mixed with red food coloring and voila! There she blows.
DINOSAUR SNACKS
DINOSAUR SNACKS
Cut dino shapes out of bread slices with cookie cutters and spread on peanut butter or soft cream cheese. Let your children decorate their shapes with raisins or dry cereal.
Make green finger gelatin and use cookie cutters to cut out dino shapes for snacking.
DINOSAUR SONGS
DINOSAURS ARE IN THEIR EGGS

Tune: “Mary Had a Little Lamb”

Dinosaurs are in their eggs,
In their eggs, in their eggs.
Dinosaurs are in their eggs,
Waiting to break out.

Dinosaurs are hatching now,
Hatching now, hatching now.
Dinosaurs are hatching now,
See them move about.
                                  Liz Ryerson

 

(Curl up on floor inside your shells)

 

(Break out of pretend shells and stretch)


(Crawl and hop around)

 
THE DINOSAURS ARE MARCHING ‘ROUND
Tune:  “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again”

The dinosaurs are marching ‘round, hooray, hooray!
The dinosaurs are marching ‘round, today, today!
They clomp and clomp across the floor,
They open their mouths and give a roar,
Then they all go marching ‘round and ‘round once more.
                        Elizabeth Scofield

(Have children act out the song.)
 

BABY DINOSAUR SONG
Tune:  “Pop! Goes the Weasel”

All around the swamp one day,
The mother dinosaur sat.
She was sitting on her egg
Wanting it to hatch.

She had sat for many days,
Keeping it safe and warm.
Crack! Crack!  Out it popped.
Her baby now was born!
                        Jean Warren

 
FIVE LITTLE DINOSAURS

Five little dinosaurs sitting in a swamp.
The first one said, “Let’s stomp, stomp, stomp.”

The second one said, “Time for lunch!”
The third one said, “Let’s munch, munch, munch.”

The fourth one said, “Let’s stomp some more.”
The fifth one said, “Let’s all roar!”    GRRRR!
                                                Jean Warren
 

ADDITIONAL DINOSAUR SONGS – Can be found at the Music Station under Dinosaur Songs.
 

 

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