D is for Dinosaur!



Clip Art by BioArt
 
 

We just wrapped up a week of bones not too long ago in which we touched on the topic of dinosaurs.  My kiddos liked it so much that I thought it was worth revisiting and creating an entire dinosaur week!

 

 

 

 

Here is a quick wrap up of some activities we did for "D is for Dinosaur" week:

 

- Dinosaur Sensory Bin                            - Dinosaur Mystery Painting

- Dinosaur Egg Hunt (spelling)                 - Dinosaur Double Trouble Game

- "d is for dinosaur" alphabet craft            - Dinosaur Classification

- Carnivore, Omnivore, Herbivore Venn Diagram

 

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Dinosaur Sensory Bin

 

I like to introduce every new week with:

 

1)  review of what we did last week,

2) an exploration of things that begin with the letter of the  week in our dictionary...we love  My first Dictionary by DK Publishing.  There are bright  pictures with simple yet accurate definitions.

3) a sensory bin!!

 

 

 

I try to create little "mini worlds" with my sensory bins to the best of my ability.  I always try to include things we already have lying around the house, a new object or two, and some manipulatives that we will be using throughout the week to serve as a "symbol" for the work (play) done in the unit.

 

For this weeks sensory bin, I used:

 

  - A rectangle aluminum casserole dish 

  - Plastic dinosaurs and trees we had lying around the house

  - A new pack of dinosaurs  {the manupilative/symbol of the week}

  - Blue glass beads for "water"

  - Rocks! 

  - Black beans and split peas (you could also add sand/dirt/coffee grounds)

 

 

 

 

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Spelling--Dinosaur Egg Hunt! 

 

Looking for another use of those Easter eggs hanging out in your kid's closets? :) 

I know I was.

 Objectives:  Reinforcing the fact that dinosaurs hatch from eggs (unlike mammals).  Recognizing the word "dinosaur"

 

 

This was a fun activity!  First I traced the word "dinosaur" on a piece of paper using the letters that were going to be hidden away in dinosaur eggs.  I got them from the dollar store quite some time ago, and they are still going strong!  Then I hid one letter in each egg (along with some dinosaurs and candy).  Armed with baskets and a sunny attitude, they ventured around until all the eggs were found!

 

We even did the activity again with lowercase letters later that week.

 

 

 

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Science--Dinosaur Classifications

Objectives:  Classify dinosaurs by diet and physical characteristics. First we read "My First Dinosaur-touch and feel" by DK publishers.  We really like DK books!  This book provides several touchy-feely pictures of dinosaurs and grouped them into groups (dinosaurs with spikes and frills, dinosaurs that are "meat munchers", etc).                                                                                     

 

We first looked at the physical characteristics of the dinosaurs.  We had some pretty realistic dinosaur stickers from Melissa and Doug.  I cut them out, and we first sorted them in pairs (my 2.5 yo helped with this).  Then I folded a paper in half and wrote one characteristic on each side of the paper.  For example, one side of the paper was for dinosaurs that walked on two feet, and the other were for dinosaurs that walked on four feet.  I provided a few examples and then let my 5yo think of other ways that the dinosaurs could be grouped.

 

We also sorted dinosaurs by what they ate.  This was also an opportunity to introduce venn diagrams.  On three cards I wrote "carnivore", "herbivore", and "omnivore".  Then I got out a few large pieces of string.  I made two overlapping circles with the string and labeled each category appropriately (the "omnivore" category was the overlapping area in the middle). Then, we got out all of our play food and groceries and sorted them into the kinds of things carnivorous, herbivorous, and omnivorous dinosaurs would eat--with a little creative latitude of course!  This was a fun one.

 

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Dinosaur Arts & Crafts

 

We did the "d is for dinosaur" alphabet craft.  The template can be found at Teacher Template:

 

We also did a dinosaur mystery painting.  I got the idea from The Do It Yourself Mom.  Please excuse my dinosaur drawing skills :)  But I thought my 5yo use of colors was very pleasing to the eye!

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the weekly round up!! 

 

 

~Dee J.