Welcome to the wonderful world of dinosaurs and all that we are going to learn over the next few weeks.
The children have shown a great interest in learning about dinosaurs so we have introduced the unit. This last week has been spent doing research. They looked through books in the library area to learn about dinosaurs to investigate their environments. They also did Internet research to discover what a paleontologists was and to learn more about volcanoes. They started learning how to excavate items in the sensory table. The children practiced mathmatics by working with geometric shapes with a special tessellation dinosaur puzzle. They developed their gross motor skills by walking like dinosaurs using Romper Stompers (I loved those things as a kid) while listening to the song "We Are The Dinosaurs, Wadda Ya Think Of That? It is a very catchy tune! I will put the children's video by the artist on the blog for you.
Keep checking back often over the next few week to see what new exciting things the children are doing in the Land of the Lost! We will be excavating dinosaurs, rocks and shells out of boulders made out of plaster of paris (thanks Leah's dad for the donation). We will also be making our own volcanoes out of clay that will erupt using baking soda and vinegar. The children will also be painting and creating their dinosaur world in the block area. Look for pictures to be posted as they use their creativity, research and artistry to recreate the setting for their dinosaur play.
 |
| Friends researching dinosaurs together. |
 |
| This child drew this picture of a dinosaur after he finished researching dinosaurs in a book in the library area. He told me that the spikes on the tail are like the spikes on the tail of the dinosaur in the book. |
 |
| Children working together exploring the new dinosaur items in the sensory table. Dinosaurs, brushes, logs, trees, rocks and other items were placed in the table to encourage the children to pretend being paleontolgists. |
 |
| This child is working very carefully to remove all "dirt" (cornmeal in this case) after looking up excavation on the internet and watching a video of a dinosaur dig in progress (National Geographic and Chicago Field Museum are great on-line resources if you want to support further exploration with your child at home). |
 |
| Pretend play in the sensory table. |
 |
| Look out, it is a herd of dinosaurs coming! Can't you hear how loud they are? Can you feel the ground shaking? |
 |
| I found these at Barnes and Nobles for $5.99 on clearence. It is a magnetic board with an instruction book and foam puzzle pieces that are also magnetic. |
