The kids are loving Dinosaur Dig! with Mother Goose Time.
The third week of this month long program gave the kids a chance to explore and wonder about dinosaur body parts.
Dinosaur Themed Non-fiction Books
We read a couple books that talked more about how dinosaurs were classified according to what they ate and how they moved. Our favorite non-fiction book for this purpose was Gail Gibbon’s Dinosaurs! We were able to pick this title up from Amazon for just a couple bucks.
In addition to completing several preschool level math and literacy activities, the kids also delved into some really fun community challenges and creative arts projects. Several of the creative arts projects were focused on creating dinosaur parts including a headband, a tail, and feet. The kids loved creating their dinosaur parts and took great pleasure from stomping around the house pretending to be their favorite dinosaur.
Dinosaur Headband
Supplies
- headband*
- sticker eyes*
- white paper strips*
- tape/stapler
- markers/crayons
- glue
- scissors
*These supplies were provided from Mother Goose Time.
Discuss
What do you see on a dinosaur’s head?
Make
- Invite children to create and decorate their headbands.
- Encourage children to cut out sharp teeth from the paper strip and glue them on the headband.
- Fit the headband around their head and staple or tape it closed.
Play
- Make a large triangle tape path on the floor.
- Move on the taped path like dinosaurs.
Observe
- Did the child wear his headband and pretend to be a dinosaur?
- What sounds or movements are evidence of the child’s dinosaur pretend play?
Our Experience
The kids love their dinosaur headbands. My eldest was able to do all of this craft herself with the exception of correctly sizing and stapling the headband. My four year old needed some help with getting the teeth to glue in the right place, but after applying two at the far ends of his headband, he opted for a toothless dinosaur. My two year old loved this activity and really enjoyed my help in cutting out some square (simpler) as opposed to triangular teeth.
Dino Tail
Supplies
- dancing with the dinosaurs CD*
- string*
- dino tails*
- tape/glue
- crayons/markers
- scissors
*These supplies were provided from Mother Goose Time.
Discuss
- What type of tail would you want if you were a dinosaur?
- Would it be long or short?
- Fluffy or spiked?
Make
- Invite children to color and decorate the paper strips.
- Demonstrate how to make a paper chain by taping or gluing the ends of the paper strips around others.
- Continue to link the paper strips to create a long dino tail.
- Take time to compare the length of each other’s tails.
- Attach the string on the first link and tie it around the child’s waste.
Play
- Play a song and dance with the dino tails.
- Freeze when the music stops.
- Continue dancing when the music starts.
Observe
- How did the child describe the length of his tail?
- Did he use words such as “long” or “short”?
- Did he compare his tail to other children’s tails?
Our Experience
My son thought this dino tail was just about the best thing going. He wore it over his clothes for a couple of days. You know that expression, “Shake Your Tail Feathers?” He quickly became found of saying, “Shake Your Tail Scales!” This was a fantastic and fun activity for all three kids!
Dino Feet
Supplies
- paper feet and strips*
- scissors
- tape or stapler
- markers
- adult-sized shoes
*These supplies were provided from Mother Goose Time.
Discuss
- What could you do if you had really big feet?
- Set out adult-sized shoes and invite children to explore walking around in them.
Make
- Invite each child to cut along the dotted lines and decorate his pair of dino feet as desired.
- Attach the paper strips as straps.
Play
- Invite children to wear the dino feet and explore different dinosaur dance moves.
- Call out different movement ideas (e.g., knees high, kick low).
Observe
- Did the child demonstrate multiple movements while wearing the dino feet?
- Did he attach the straps independently?
Our Experience
The kids liked their dino feet, but struggled a bit to keep them on their feet. We had to resize the strips a couple times to keep them in place. My youngest had a hard time walking forward with the dinosaur feet attached without stepping on his other dino foot. This provided a great deal of entertainment for all the kids and quickly became a game. As we danced the kids worked to come up with more and more challenging dino dance moves.
Dinosaur Themed Fiction Books
These are our three favorite fiction books about dinosaurs.
Dinosaur Dig!
This is a counting book that effortlessly taught my son the names of ten different dinosaurs. Each page a new dinosaur is added and my son loves counting them. His favorite part though is figuring out which dinosaur is new and is quickly able to identify them by name. The inside cover labels each dinosaur featured in the book and a quick google on pronunciation kept this Momma up to speed.
Sammy and the Dinosaurs
This delightful story features a little boy who discovers and cares for a bucket full of toy dinosaurs. Proper names of dinosaurs are used. My kids loved having their very own yellow bucket of dinosaurs to go along with the story.
The Dinosaur Who Lived in My Backyard
The siblings in this book have a marvelous time thinking about the dinosaur that might have lived in their backyard long ago. This story is a terrific way to get kids more interested in dinosaurs, especially those that might have existed in their own area of the world. It also introduces and reinforces the concept of extinction.
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Happy Discovering!
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