Ready to stomp, chomp, and roar? This week, your child will play paleontologist while developing fine and gross motor skills and learning about science, math, music, and cooking. 🦕 Want to track your progress? Click here for our printable tracker to log your books, activities, and skills learned.
Note: Occasionally we include project modifications (which can be useful for including younger siblings). We’ll mark those with the minus (-) symbol.
What you need:
Books (find at your local library or order below on Amazon):
- Smithsonian Kids: Digging for Dinosaurs by Jaye Garnett
- National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Dinosaurs by Catherine D. Hughes
- Dinosaur Bones by Bob Barner
- Here We Go Digging for Dinosaur Bones by Susan Lendroth
Supplies (use what you have, but here are links to shop if you need anything):
- Dig a Dozen Dino Eggs Kit – This kit will be used through the entire week, and when the lesson is done, it’s a fun toy your child can keep.
- a muffin tin (or egg carton or 12 small cups)
- paper + access to a printer (don’t have one? we like this model)
- scissors
- crayons or other coloring supplies
- pipe cleaners
- beads
- sand
- a sensory bin or aluminum baking dish
- dice
- dry erase markers
- playdough
- flour
- a baking sheet
- plastic wrap
- large roll of paper
- ingredients for this recipe
- math counters
What to do:
This is the order we recommend doing the activities in order to build on each skill your child will develop, but it is not required. Do what works for you and your child. If they love an activity, feel free to repeat! Not a winner? Skip and try the next thing. Have fun!
Letter of the week: D
New to the letter of the week? Start here! Next, print this coloring sheet. and Letter Guide. Let your child color the coloring sheet as you work through the next part of the lesson.
The Letter D has only one single-letter phonogram, /d/ as in “dinosaur.” As you can see on the first page of the letter guide. Reinforce the sounds with our Letter of the Week Song.
Remember, the guide isn’t a worksheet! The first page is for you, the grown-up. Use it to introduce the letter name, the sounds it makes, and to demonstrate how to draw each letter. Display the Letter Guide in your school area along with the completed coloring sheet to reinforce the lesson throughout the week.
Next, use the second sheet to create a page for your child’s phonics book. Review the book a few times each week until your child has mastered these phonics.
Lesson 1:
Start by introducing Smithsonian Kids: Digging for Dinosaurs. As you read, point out the different features of the dinosaurs. Ask your child what they think a dinosaur needed their horns or spikes or long necks for. Practice flapping like a pterodactyl or stomping like a T-Rex to engage their body awareness. Talk about paleontologists and what they do.
Activity 1: Dig a Dozen Dino Eggs Kit – This fun dig activity will help your child how paleontologists discover dinosaur bones when they dig for fossils. There are 12 colorful dinosaurs in these eggs. Once they have opened as many as they would like to, use your books to match the dinosaurs to the ones in the pictures. (Note: You may want to use other kitchen tools to help your child open the eggs quicker if they get tired.)
(-) To involve a younger sibling, set up a “washing station” with a small bowl or plastic container where they can clean the dinosaurs after your older child gets them out of the egg.
Activity 2: Dinosaur Counting Game – When you print the number cards, print two copies—you’ll use the second set for the Dino Beads activity tomorrow.
Lesson 2:
Read National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Dinosaurs. Practice pronouncing the different dinosaur names (it’s harder than it sounds!).
Activity 1: Dino Beads. Let’s practice some counting with our dinosaur counting cards, some pipe cleaners, and beads. First, use the second set of these cards that you printed. Use a hole puncher to punch a hole on the bottom of each card and thread a pipe cleaner through the hole. Present your child with the cards and a small bowl of pony beads. Next, have your child identify the number on the card and thread the same number of beads onto the pipe cleaner for some numbers and fine motor practice.Â
Activity 2: Let’s get some letter writing practice with this sensory idea. Print these egg letter cards and cut them out. (You may want to laminate if possible to extend the life of the cards.) Fill a shallow baking dish or sensory bin with half an inch of sand. Then, present your child with the letter cards and let them practice writing each one in the sand with their finger or a stick. Don’t worry if they don’t want to do every letter! Start with D since it’s our letter of the week, and then let them do as many as they have interest in. End with some free play using your dinosaur figurines in the sand.
Lesson 3:
Read Here We Go Digging Today, and get ready for some exploration of your own!
Activity 1: Dino Roll + Cover Game
(-) Encourage your child to identify the number on the die without counting the dots if they can, but if they’re not ready for that yet, count away!
Activity 2: Use playdough and the dinosaur figurines to make your own fossils. Encourage your child to make dino footprints or to press the whole figurine into the playdough to replicate what a paleontologist might find.
Lesson 4:
Read Dinosaur Bones. For younger children, simply read through the large text at the top of each page. To upgrade the book, read through the extra dinosaur details in the smaller text. See which dinosaurs your child can recognize from previous activities.
Activity 1: Make Your Own Fossils – Note: This project needs to dry overnight, so prepare it today to dig out tomorrow.
Activity 2: Dino Stomp Song – Get up and encourage your child to act out the song with you! (Feeling crafty? Follow this tutorial to create simple dinosaur feet for stomping.)
Activity 3: Ready for a silly gross-motor activity? Have your child put their arms in their T-shirt like a T-Rex and then clean their room with their “dino arms.” (Promise you’ll get a laugh out of it!)
Activity 4: This cool podcast will help kids learn more about dinosaurs and also practice their listening skills. Ask your child these questions after you’re done listening:
1) This podcast talked about two groups of dinosaurs. Do you remember what they were called? A: carnivore and herbivore
2) What does a carnivore eat? A: Meat
3) What does a herbivore eat? A: Plants
Lesson 5:
Re-read any favorite books from the week, then get ready to move! (Don’t forget to “dig” your fossils from yesterday!)
Activity 1: Dinosaur Twister
Activity 2: Bake Dino Print Cookies, and then stream a dinosaur movie for a family movie night. (We love The Land Before Time!)
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