3.22.2013

D is for Dinosaur Lesson Plan #2

The happy Dinosaurs
Their favorite thing to do - ROAR!!!

Dinosaurs are always a fun and popular theme. For preschool, we:

  • Traced the letter D
  • Turned ourselves into dinosaurs by making headbands and giving our names "osaurus" suffixes!  I found free clipart of a dinosaur online.  There were so many to pick from like these.  Then I copied them onto tan cardstock.  I cut a headband about 1 1/2" tall x 11" wide for the kid's heads.  If their heads are big enough, you may have to cut two of these and staple them together.  Then fit the headband to the size of the child.  The kids colored the dinosaurs, then we glued them on the headband and placed it on their heads.
  • Had Calendar/Weather Time with singing, counting, and birthday recognition
  • Talked about the letter D and what words start with D (some ideas were dad, dude {thank you to the boys}, donut, doll, donkey, dog, doctor and dinosaur)
  • Graphed our favorite dinosaurs as a group
  • Talked about the different kinds of dinosaurs and then counted them (plastic figurines) and sorted them into categories by colors and features
  • Had a fun flannel board story about 5 little dinosaurs that eventually all went away...

    Five Crazy Dinosaurs
    5 crazy Dinosaurs sweeping the floor
    1 got swept away, then there were four
    4 crazy Dinosaurs chased by a bee,
    1 got stung, then there were 3
    3 crazy Dinosaurs playing with glue,
    1 got stuck, then there were 2
    2 crazy Dinosaurs out for a run
    1 fell down, then there was 1
    1 crazy Dinosaur acting like a hero
    He went out to save the others, then there were zero

  • Learned just how big a dinosaurs mouth is, hunted for his teeth, counted his teeth, got eaten up and promptly pulled out all his teeth! (The kids predicted how big the mouth of the T-Rex was. Then we had to find out... They went on a hunt for all of his teeth and placed them inside this mouth. They climbed inside his mouth and realized just how big a dinosaur's mouth was. They were really funny. The kids got really excited about how much money T-Rex would earn from the tooth fairy for all those teeth!)
  • Happily learned what the word extinct means :)
  • Made a Stegosaurus out of the letter D (I cut out large letter D's out of green cardstock.  Then I cut out rectangles and triangles and ovals out of 2 different shades of green cardstocks.  The kids made patterns for the triangles and rectangles for spikes and legs.  The ovals were the head and tail.  We finished by gluing on a googly eye and glued everything to a tan piece of cardstock.)
  • Practiced our patterns with the triangles on the Stegosaurus
  • Reviewed our shapes with our Stegosaurus
  • Had a dinosaur dig with cracker crumbs, gummy dinosaurs, and dinosaur eggs.  You could have the dinosaur eggs be any round candy.  There are some really cute nerd candies that are chewy and just the look of dinosaur eggs! (This was the most popular event of preschool - the dinosaur dig for snack time. The kids each got a bowl of "dirt" (graham cracker crumbs) to dig for dinosaurs and dinosaur eggs. They got "shovels" (spoons) and brushes (paint brushes) to dig away and find 10 dinosaurs and 5 eggs. They loved it and when they were all done, they wanted to do it all again.)
  • Learned what a paleontologist is while doing the dinosaur dig
  • Read several "How do Dinosaur" books by Jane Tolen like How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? and How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?.
  • Acted out a dinosaur's typical day - stomping, chomping, roaring, swimming, sleeping
  • Sang oodles of songs... I posted them below the pictures
  • built a dinosaur village with blocks and plastic dinos
  • Sang lots of songs:
Triceratops
(Sung to: Three Blind Mice)
Look and see. One, two, three.
Count with me. One, two, three.
Triceratops has three big horns.
That's the way that he was born.
One, two, three. One, two, three.

Hiding Dinosaurs
Dinosaur, Dinosaur, where can you be?
Hiding behind me (hands behind back)
Where you cannot see,
Now you see one. (Bring out one hand)
It's waiting for you.
Here comes another, (bring out other hand)
And now you see two!

Dinosaur Stomp
(sung to "Glory, Glory Hallelujah")
I love to stomp and chomp and romp throughout the land
I love to stomp and chomp and romp throughout the land
Oh, I love to stomp and romp throughout the land
How I love to be a Dinosaur

Sleepy Dinos
(To the tune of See the Bunnies Sleeping)
Sleeping Dinosaurs, Till it's nearly noon,
Come let us wake them, with a merry tune
Oh so still, Are they ill?
Wake up little Dino's! (Shout)
Stomp Little Dino's (stomp on the ground)
Stomp, stomp, stomp (stomp on the ground)
Stomp Little Dino's (stomp on the ground)
Stomp, stomp, stomp (stomp on the ground)
Stomp little Dinosaurs (stomp on the ground)
Stomping, and stomping and Stomp and Stop

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs
(Sung to "Row, row, row your boat")
Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs Eating fruits and leaves
Take a bite, chew it up and spit out the seeds (Make spitting sound)

Dinosaurs of Long Ago
The Dinosaurs lived long ago,
And walked like this, and that. (Walk heavy like Dino's)
Some were large (Stretch arms apart.)
And some were small. (Squat down.)
Some liked water (Swimming motion)
And some liked land (Stomp feet.)
Some had wings that flapped and flapped. (Flap arms)
Some had long necks that stretched and stretched (Put hand above head)
The meanest, rudest one of all was ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex
These were the Dinosaurs of long ago.
Goodness gracious! Where did they go?

Dinosaurs Lived Long Ago
(sung to "London Bridge is Falling Down")
Dinosaurs lived long ago, long ago, long ago,
Dinosaurs lived long ago, That's prehistoric!
Tyrannosaurus was very mean, very mean, Very mean,
Tyrannosaurus was very mean, That's prehistoric!
Brontosaurus was very big, very big, very big,
Brontosaurus was very big, that's prehistoric!
Stegosaurus wore heavy spikes, heavy spikes, heavy spikes,
Stegosaurus wore heavy spikes, that's prehistoric!
Triceratops had big sharp horns, big sharp horns, big sharp horns,
Triceratops had big sharp horns, that's prehistoric!
Pterodactyl could fly in the air, fly in the air, fly in the air,
Pterodactyl could fly in the air, that's prehistoric!
All the Dinosaurs disappeared, disappeared, disappeared,
All the Dinosaurs disappeared, that's why their prehistoric!

See more ideas from Rachel's Dinosaur Lesson Plan she posted previously.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! I just found your blog. We are doing dinosaurs for my preschool girl and nieces. This was fabulous. I can go to sleep now. This is a GREAT plan. Thank you for sharing!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! I just found your blog. We are doing dinosaurs for my preschool girl and nieces. This was fabulous. I can go to sleep now. This is a GREAT plan. Thank you for sharing!!!