Dinosaurs

My little bud told me that he wanted to learn about dinosaurs for our first official "mom school" lesson.  Could he have picked a more perfect topic?!  I mean, DINOSAURS RULE.  Well, at least they did, once upon a time...

As luck would have it, I was prepared for this topic since my little man just loves his dinos.  I had picked up a teacher workbook about the different kinds of dinosaurs from the dollar section at Target.  The hardest part about dinosaurs for me is pronouncing all the names; our Dinosaur A-Z book is so helpful in this department!  It also shares fun facts about each type of dinosaur and an illustration of their size in relation to the size of a person; Buddy really gets a kick out of the dinosaurs that are the same size that he is!  Like velociraptors, which are tiny but fierce--not so unlike my little citizen (okay okay, he's not THAT fierce!).  We also read another favorite dinosaur book, How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten?  I loved sneaking in a numbers and counting lesson into our discussion of dinosaurs.

We also got our hands (and feet!) dirty with a couple of fun toddler art projects centered around our dinosaur theme:

1. Footprint dinosaur - Bud dipped his foot in green paint and stamped it on a white piece of paper.  Once it dried, we added eyes, teeth, and spikes.  Then we had to name our dino.  This part was easy; we inserted little man's name, and then added "saurus" on the end.  The Buddysaurus is definitely my new favorite dinosaur.  

2. Fingerprint dinosaurs - Using blue and green (washable) ink, Bud pressed his thumbs and fingers onto the ink pad and then printed them on plain white paper in the shape of the dinosaur's body. Inspired by little man's two favorite plastic dino toys, we made a green T-Rex and a blue Brachiosaurus.   Then we used a black pen to add feet, hands, tails, and faces.    When we were done, Bud was insisted that he also draw in a "dino house."  Why not?

Fingerprint T-Rex and Brachiosaurus--plus a "dino house" drawn by Bud

These art projects were easy and fun, which is great since there was minimal preparation involved. Bud is always excited when he gets to dip his hands or feet in paint too--in part because it tickles, but also because what kid doesn't love a sanctioned mess?

I think I convinced him that having his mom as a teacher isn't so bad after all!

  

Dinosaur Lesson Overview

• Brief lesson on the types of dinosaurs; I found a workbook that was great for a broad overview at our neighborhood Target!
• Books
• Dinosaurs A-Z by Roger Priddy - Also incorporates letters of the alphabet!
• How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague - Also incorporates counting!
• Art Projects
• Footprint DIY dino
• Fingerprint dinosaurs