Why do we love dinosaurs? Because they’re big and scary, but they’re also fascinating. They lived millions of years ago, and we still haven’t found all their bones. Dinosaurs are a great way to teach kids about science, paleontology, and animals. Use these preschool activities to teach the little ones in your life about dinosaurs.
When teaching young children, it is important to make lessons both engaging and fun. Whether you’re teaching at home or in a classroom, these activities will help preschoolers learn about dinosaurs while also keeping them interested.
Make a Stegosaurus Headband
Dinosaurs are pretty big. This can be hard for kids to grasp. Luckily, you can use the size of their heads to show them how much bigger a dinosaur is than they are!
Materials needed: Cardboard (or thick paper), scissors, stapler, glue stick, construction paper, markers
Cut out a strip of cardboard (or thick paper) that is long enough to fit around the child’s head with an extra inch or so for overlap. Then draw and cut out a stegosaurus head from construction paper and glue it to one end of the cardboard strip. Staple the ends to make a headband. If desired, you can also cut out eyes and horns from construction paper and glue them on the headband.
This activity teaches preschoolers about the size of dinosaurs and allows them to use their imagination. The children will use scissors, a stapler, and glue to make their headbands, so adult supervision is recommended.
Dinosaur Coloring Pages
Help your child learn colors by using dinosaur coloring pages! These coloring pages will have different types of dinosaurs for your child to color in with pencils or crayons. Your child can learn about each dinosaur by reading the name of the dinosaur first and then reading about them on the page. The best part about these coloring pages is that they’re free! You can find them online or at any store that sells school supplies.
Superior Dinosaur Crafts for Preschoolers
One of the best parts of being a preschool teacher is getting to make all kinds of fun crafts with your students! This article will give you some ideas on how you can use dinosaurs as inspiration for craft projects that are easy enough for even young children to create on their own.
Dinosaur Dig
There are multiple ways to create a dinosaur dig for your classroom. If you have access to sand, just hide some plastic dinosaur figures in the sand and have your students dig them out. You can also use shaving cream on a table if you only have access to indoor spaces.
For a truly authentic dinosaur experience, let the kids explore the world of paleontology. First, try a “dig”: Simply hide plastic dinosaur figures in some sand and watch as the kids become archaeologists. Alternatively, use shaving cream on a table if you don’t have sand. As an extension project, have them rub crayons on pictures of real or fake fossils to create their own fossils at home.
Dinosaur Clay Models
This activity is easy and fun for the children. Ask them to mold the clay into the shape of their favorite dinosaur. Then ask them to mold a second piece of clay into the shape of a person who used to live at the same time as their favorite dinosaur. Then they use more clay to create a background scene around these two figures, perhaps making a mountain behind the dinosaur and a cave behind the person, with grass and trees around both of them. When this activity is complete, you might have the children write stories about their pictures, telling what happened in their scenes.
Dinosaur Sculptures
If you don’t want your preschool students handling clay, you can give them each a plastic dinosaur model or toy and some paintbrush-shaped sculpting tools such as those used for cleaning out pipes and drains.
Dinosaur Drawing: Have the students draw a dinosaur of their choosing. After they have finished drawing their dinosaurs, ask them to identify what color they drew their dinosaurs and explain why they chose that particular color. Ask them to describe what the textured skin of a dinosaur might feel like, then ask them to recreate that texture on their drawings using glue and sand or salt.
Dinosaur Questions: Ask the children if they know what kind of animals live on the earth today. Explain that there are many different types of animals living today, but there were also many different types of animals living in the past (dinosaurs being one example). Write “living” and “living in the past” on the board and draw pictures under each word. Some examples could include dogs, cats, elephants, lions, etc. for “living” and dinosaurs for “living in the past”. Ask them if any of these animals look similar or dissimilar to each other. Discuss with them why some animals may look alike and others may not look alike at all.