Footprints!! 13 Dinosaur Activities!! -- Poppins Book Nook

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Today's theme for Poppins Book Nook is Dinosaurs, so we had a dinosaur party all week!

Here are 13 easy (and exciting!) dinosaur-themed learning activities that you and your children will enjoy:



#1:  Footprints!!  Take a ride in a time shuttle to explore some footprints that have mysteriously appeared!  What animals do you think made these prints?  (I used masking tape.  You could also use chalk outside.)



#2: Measure the footprints!  This is great practice for children using a ruler, deciding what units to use, and recording data.


#3: Solve the mystery!  I provided the following information and let my children decide what made the footprints:
  • Tyrannosaurus Rex Foot: 5 feet long
  • Apatosaurus Foot: 4 feet long
  • Micropachycephalosaurus Foot: very small
Note:  Even though T. Rex feet may have been up to six feet long, T. Rex footprints are only about 18 inches long because this dinosaur walked on its tippy toes!

#4:  T. Rex Stomp!  Stomp around on your tippy toes like a T. Rex!  Can you run like a T. Rex?  This is a great large muscle and coordination strengthener!

#5: What do you think happened?  Talk about how those footprints could have got there.  Were the dinosaurs there at the same time?  Did they see each other?  Was there a fight?  Let your children dictate or illustrate a story.



#6:  Paint a Dinosaur!  You can draw an outline freehand or print a dinosaur coloring page for them to paint.  Painting is a fabulous sensory experience, gives you a chance to review colors with them, and strengthens fine motor skills!



#7: Make Fizzing Dinosaur Eggs!  This is both a sensory experience and a science lesson!  Click here for complete details!



#8: Learn how to draw a dinosaur!  This website has how-to-draws for older children, but I adapted it for my kids.  Here's my daughter's drawing:


#9: Have a Dinosaur Dance inside the footprints!

#10: How many kid footprints will fit inside an Apatosaurus footprint?  Let your children estimate (our most popular guess was seven!), then trace your kids' feet and count how many fit.  We fit 50!


#11: How many kid footprints long is a dinosaur footprint?


#12: How many kids can you fit inside one dinosaur footprint?  Here's another chance for them to estimate!


#13: Paper activities!  Click here for a free dinosaur matching packet (perfect for preschoolers) and then come back on Thursday for another whole preschool dinosaur packet!!




The Poppins Book Nook is an awesome book club that focuses monthly around a theme.  May's theme has been Dinosaurs!

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Our favorite dinosaur book has been How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague.  It is an absolutely delightful rhyming, questioning book that my preschoolers have enjoyed over and over. And, it has the names of all the cool dinosaurs cleverly hidden in each illustration spread!  I highly recommend it to everyone!

We've also enjoyed National Geographic's First Big Book of Dinosaurs and several others!

Make sure you catch all the other dinosaur themed ideas from these other amazing bloggers:





And if you have any dinosaur posts you would like to share, please link up here:







I may share at any of these parties!

Comments

Ashley said…
What great footprint ideas! We may have to try it outside sometime!
May 28, 2013 at 8:09 PM
Meghan Tucker said…
These are great! Thanks for sharing them at Ultimate List of Mom Resources!
May 30, 2013 at 7:25 AM
Rebecca said…
Looks like a lot of fun ways to learn! Thanks for linking this with Ultimate Moms!!
May 30, 2013 at 8:50 AM
Anonymous said…
I still want to come to your house for school Carla! What a super fun dinosaur themed week you created :-)
June 4, 2013 at 11:57 AM
Jackie Higgins said…
We are starting a dinosaur "study" this week as my boys keep gravitating toward dino books at the library. Thanks for the great activities.
June 4, 2013 at 3:40 PM
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