Big Ideas For Group Time
In circle time, youll discover that you have some kids who know next to nothing about dinosaurs, and others that know more than most adults! Theres a few messages that should be made clear to all.
- Dinosaurs are extinct. They lived a really long time ago, but they are not alive now. The closest thing we really will see is a crocodile or an alligator, although birds are also descendants of dinosaurs.
- They werent ALL really big. Some dinosaurs were the size of a chicken.
- The way we know about dinosaurs is by finding and digging up bones and fossil evidence, and then attempting to assemble them into full skeletons and gather data about things like what they ate, how they walked, and so on.
- When talking about dinosaurs, its pretty hard to avoid the idea that some dinosaurs lived by eating other dinosaurs. Parents can sometimes get skittish about the violence of dinosaurs, especially since movies make millions of dollars by showcasing this violence. But you can also be pretty matter of fact about it. Just as we can say frogs eat bugs or eagles eat mice, we can address that carnivorous dinosaurs ate other dinosaurs.
Rhythm Game: We asked kids to tell us the name of a kind of dinosaur, then we clapped the syllables, from t-rex to pach-y-ceph-a-lo-saur-us.
Learn The History Of Fossils
The first dinosaur remains were probably first discovered in China in the fourth century but have been mistaken for bones of fantastic animals such as dragons.
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/ Activity 5 Make A Dinosaur Dig
HOW DO YOU MAKE A DINOSAUR DIG?
This is a brilliant sensory activity and is very simple to set up. All you need is kinetic sand and plastic dinosaur skeletons. Bury the dinosaur bones, then invite your preschooler to uncover them using only the bristles and handle of a paintbrush or toothbrush.
After the bones have been excavated, you can work with your young scientist to identify the dinosaur.
Kids can also experiment with creating impression fossils with the toy dinosaur bones. For a more advanced fine motor workout, give your child a pair of tongs for removing the dinosaur bones from the sand.
Here are some other ideas for play with them once you have found the bones
- Count the dinosaur bones.
- Sort the bones by size, shape, or colour
- Re-bury them and hunt again!
Read Also: New Dinosaur Movie Coming Out
Collect Shells On The Beach
There are several cases of shell fossils based on the mineralization process of its parts. We can keep the shell whole without changes in shape and chemical composition. For example, in the case of the beautiful pearly ammonites that have undergone few superficial alterations, the pearl having been preserved.
But only the shell can remain that becomes porous and absorbs the mineral solutions that circulate in the rock. Recrystallization occurs, and the fossil is said to have mineralized. It is the case of pyrite or pyrite fossils.
Even soft tissues can fossilize through processes of mineralization of organic matter. So, you can have some internal or external molds. If it fills the shell with material and then empties it, we get an internal mold. It is less interesting because it has lost much of the shells ornament.
If the sediments fill the space left by the shell, we can have the faithful reconstruction of both the inside and the outside. Another substance can replace the shell. The fossil will be a perfect reproduction of the original.
Various substances can replace the primitive material of the shell such as calcite, aragonite, silica, pyrite, oxides, carbonates, phosphates, phosphates, and silicates. Sometimes, the shell dissolves after being pressed against a substrate which subsequently hardens. The fossil will be the negative cast of the shell.
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Dinosaur Activities Crafts And Printables For Kids
Categories Arts and Crafts, Fine Motor, Free Printables, Puzzles and Games, Sensory Activities, STEM
Are you looking for Dinosaur Activities for your little paleontologist? Here are 25 Dinosaur Activities, crafts and printables for kids.These dinosaur play ideas are fun, easy and perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. You can do them at home or with a whole class. Youll have a whole lot of little dino lovers roaring about the place in no time.
Disclosure: Some of the links provided in this blog are affiliate links. I will be paid a commission if you use this link to make a purchase.
Recommended Reading: Dinosaurs And The Bible Timeline
/ Activity 2 Hunt The Dinosaur
Depending on the age of the children you can do this a few ways
For younger toddlers you can hide the dinosaurs in plain sight
For pre-schoolers, you can hide them under things and inside things and when they are hunting you can do the dinosaur version of warm / cold as they search around.
If your children are older then give them written clues or even a fact about the dinosaur they are looking for to see if they can locate the correct one .
This is also a great activity to do with siblings. If you have older siblings they can even hide the dinosaurs for the younger siblings. If they are similar in age they can take it in turns to hide them for each other.
This is a great way to practice communication skills, vocabulary, and beginning observation skills plus cooperation and movement!
Plaster Cases With Salt Paste
We put a layer of salt dough of 1-2 cm high in the trays. Then, we imprint the footprints or the bodies of the dinosaurs or the shells. We prepare the gypsum paste by mixing gypsum powder and water to get a rather thick Cappetta. Then pour the mixture on the salt dough.
To help the subsequent detachment of the two materials, we brush the surface of the salt dough with a veil of oil. Then pour the plaster paste into all the containers and wait a few minutes until it can completely harden.
We removed the salt dough that is still soft from the hardened plaster. So, we will get a series of negative casts that should represent the plaster equivalent of the dinosaur or the part of the leg that left the footprint. However, since these casts are dirty with salt dough, clean them briefly.
Then, after a few days, we played at being paleontologists and were equipped with a wooden toothpick again. We can clean our casts from every residue with patience and precision. Finally, we had fun painting the protruding parts of some of our casts with watercolors to give more prominence to the shapes of the dinosaurs or their footprints.
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Dinosaur Themed Activities Games And Crafts
Plan a Dinosaur theme in your classroom or program to keep kids engaged in your activities! Students can improve skills in creativity, fine motor skills, and counting with these dino crafts and games. These can be used for lesson plans or as brain breaks. Heres a list of themed educational and crafty ideas weve compiled that are totally DINO-MITE!
This is the perfect theme to plan in May to celebrate #DinosaurDay on May 15th!
The Game Of Archaeologists
First, we shape fake fossils with salt dough and plaster. Then we will make an archaeologists kit. On top of the orange caps, we have attached the Jurassic Park logo with our name written on the tank top, two images on the front and the back. The archaeologists uniform was then completed by a beautiful binocular made with two rolls of toilet paper painted in black. We decorate it as desired and with a ribbon attached.
So, we went to the school garden where the teacher had hidden all the clues under the fossils we made a few days earlier. They gave the children the first clue and, starting from there, they will solve all 25 subsequent riddles, some even very difficult.
We also have to perform tasks like a true archaeologist, such as brushing a large fossil on the sand that covered it. Even though I know the answer to the riddle, we have sometimes forced ourselves to keep quiet to let my brothers guess.
For this point, a ticket led us to a bucket where there was a part of the treasure we had been looking for so much. In the sand, there were cute rubber dinosaurs. They were really cute. The last ticket took us under a large tree with falling branches where we found our treasure. Inside the chest were a magnifying glass, a torch for each of us, and a diploma as a good archaeologist.
Looking at things through the magnifying glass is fantastic because you notice details that are not visible to the naked eye. The treasure hunt was a lot of fun, and we wanted an explorer kit.
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Even The Vegetables Have Fossils
Even the plants will fossilize well. Cellulose can transform into carbon or other minerals such as silica, often keeping the structure intact. We have found a petrified forest in Arizona in which the trunks transformed into silica from truly spectacular tangles. The fern footprints found in coalfields are also famous.
Also, cereals and pollen seeds can fossilize and remain up to us. The palynology and the carphologia allow us to know the plant species present in the various ages of the Earth in a region. They allow us to correlate these data with the corresponding paleoclimates . The discovery of remains of plant organisms has allowed us to establish how the first plants on Earth were blue algae.
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/ Activity 3 Dinosaur Treasure Hunt
This is a bit more of a structured treasure hunt and involves printing specified clues provided as part of the pack and then the children watch videos riddles from Ranger Ron, each riddle directs them to search for a corresponding clue.
There is a dinosaur bones puzzle too which you can put a piece of the puzzle at each clue point, so that the kids collect a piece of the puzzle at each clue point and then the final video Ranger Ron instructs them in completing their puzzle.
There are also bonus dinosaur activities where Ranger Ron teaches Dino hunting skills and his Dino rap.
An interactive activity that is ready made and can take up to 45 minutes and can be done indoors or outdoors for 1 or more children.
This activity is brilliant for following instructions, listening skills, matching, problem solving and encouraging imaginative play.
Recommended Reading: Best Dinosaur Museum In Usa
Learn About Marine Fossils
The fossilization process can find the optimal conditions to occur even on the seabed. For example, it has preserved the body of a dinosaur lying on the seabed from decomposition thanks to the intervention of mineral substances. It replaces the porous parts of the living being and transforms them into the rock.
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Make A Fossil With Children
The pleasure that fossils give is strange. Not everyone loves them because they are nothing but the remains of ancient creatures. If you think about it too long, you will end up wondering what you are doing with a petrified corpse in your hands. But we find them fascinating because they do not belong to our recent world, but come from a past.
For this experiment, you will need sand powder, chalk, shells, butterflies, or anything else you want to transform into a fossil. Denote that the objects are only used to leave a footprint and can be reused. Otherwise, prepare two better disposable containers, brushes, and a small, willing paleontologist.
Pour the sand into a container and play. Then moisten with water level and thoroughly impress the objects to leave an imprint. Prepare the plaster by mixing it with water. Pay attention to mix away from children so as not to let them breathe the dust. Pour your plaster into the container with the sand and wait about half an hour for it to dry. Do not forget to make a hole with a straw if you want to hang it on the wall.
In the meantime, continue playing with the remaining sand. When the chalk is dry, you can remove it from the container and remove the excess sand with the help of brushes. It is the funniest part where little paleontologists pretend to discover a fossil and clean it up. If the sand is wet, wait for it to dry to get rid of it more easily. The result will surprise.
Three Easy Templates For Dinosaurs I Heart Crafty Things
Making paper plate dinosaurs is a go-to craft idea for little kids. They never grow tired of designing and constructing their own diy dinosaur creatures. Learn how to make three different types of dinosaurs using a single paper plate. The templates are so simple to draw on your own, you dont even need a printable dinosaur pattern.
These 20 Dinosaur Activities And Crafts For Kids Are Totally Dino
Dig for bones, make fossils, and more prehistoric fun!
Dinosaurs are one of the first obsessions for many kids. Once they get started, they just cant get enough! Thats why we know theyre going to love these dinosaur activities and games. Theyre the perfect way to have fun and learn at the same time, in the classroom or at home. Pick a few to try sometime soon!
Activity #: Dinosaur Oobleck Sensory
This dinosaur muddy play is the perfect sensory setup for your little ones to play with their dinosaurs!
There is a land section and a water section for this sensory bin. When you add water into the mix, the kids always enjoy it. Im also not kidding when I say that I had to set up the blue water set up for my son for weeks straight after this activity.
More Craft Fun With Dinosaurs
These Sand Art Dinosaurs are fun and easy to make! Just peel precut shapes from self-adhesive backing and apply fine sand for beautiful designs.
Our fun-to-feel Super Foam and bright Color Splash!® brands have joined together to bring you new, precut Adhesive Foam Dinosaur Shapes! The 1/2-lb pack with about 600 pieces includes a convenient, reusable storage bucket.
Dinosaur Unit 2nd Grade
Instead of using a pre-made dinosaur curriculum for elementary, I like to pull our out dinosaur theme together to add lots of fun, hands-on dinosaur activities for kids loaded with educational activities for all subjects. Thi Dinosaur Unit included lots of creative dinosaur activities for 2nd grade in our dinosaur lesson plans. We have dinosaur books, dinosaur crafts, lots of learning activities, and free dinosaur printables for elementary grades. Whether you are a parent looking for ideas for your dinosaur lover, homeschooler planning a dinosour theme, or a teacher looking for a dinosaur unit 2nd grade you will love using these ideas. The following dinosaur for kids ideas are perfect for preschoolers, kindergartners, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, and grade 4 students.
Delightful Dinosaur Activities For Kids
April 11, 2022Stephanie
Dinosaur lovers will delight in these delightful dinosaur activities for kids! Kids of all ages will love the dinosaur theme and all the hands-on learning and growth theyll experience as your little paleontologist explores the world of dinosaurs!
These dinosaur activities are the perfect way to get kids hands-on and learn!
Free Printable Dinosaur Games And Activities For Kids
Whether you are looking for printable dinosaur games that use dice and moving spaces ahead?
Or do your kids just love dinosaurs and are looking for free printable dinosaur games?
Regardless, you came to the right place!
In this post, you will find all kinds of fun dinosaur printable games and activities for kids, so come and take a look.
So, look through this fantastic list, choose some of the activities and get ready to ROAR!
/ Activity 9 Dinosaur Stomp
Let your child stomp around with homemade dinosaur feet!
How To Make Your Dinosuar Stomp
Take a piece of cardboard and draw a dinosaur footprint on it.
Make sure your dinosaur footprint is way bigger than your childs foot. Cut it out 2 footprints and paint them green.
Poke holes a couple of inches in from the edge of the dino footprint. Take two pieces of string and tie one through each hole.
Have your child stand on the dino footprint and tie it on.
Now let your child stomp around the house!
These dinosaur feet are great for dramatic play. You can set up a block city and destroy it.
This activity encourages kids to be aware of their feet and how they are walking.
Playing the part of the dinosaur encourages creative thinking and problem-solving.
More Delightful And Cool Animal Crafts From Play Ideas
- If your little one is a fan of hedgehogs, these cute hedgehog craft ideas will bring delight in their eyes just like the dinosaur craft ideas!
- Done with dinosaur activities? Create more awesome craft ideas with these fun animal paper plates!
- Your little one will have a magical time with these easy cute unicorn crafts.
- These curiously cute cat crafts will make your kids dull afternoon into a wonderful one after a dinosaur activity!
- The kids will be so thrilled making these super cool caterpillar art crafts at home!
- Snakes can be your little ones friend when they make these super fun snake art crafts.
- These lovely ladybug craft ideas will surely put the fun in your kids day!
- Cant get over dinosaur activities? Bring your childs inner paleontologist to life with these fun fossil ideas for kids!
- Have some fun with your kids during winter with these easy cool science experiments!
Which cool dinosaur activity delighted your kiddo the most?
/ Activity 1 Make Dino Play
All you need is some dinosaur figures and some play-doh! You can either use play doh you have or make some yourself.
You could use single colours, or try marbling two colours together. Just roll out the play-doh, put the dino inside and roll into a ball, then shape into an egg shape.
You can then hide the eggs in the house or garden for a fun dino egg hunt!
For pre-schoolers you can make it extra educational by giving them a sheet where they have to find the different colour eggs and tick them off.
You could also make a note of all the dinosaurs inside the eggs and then your child can hatch the eggs and tick off as they find each one! They love hatching them out of the play doh!
You could also try putting the dinosaurs in plastic eggs and then wrap the doh around the egg.