In our last post we reviewed Dinosaur Rocket, Penny Dales’s latest book in her fast, fun and furious Dinosaur series.

Kids are fascinated by dinosaurs size,unusual names and appearance.

There are many ways of extending the story reading and providing exciting early literacy learning opportunities, both at home,in early education centres and out and about.

Rhymes.

There are many rhymes about dinosaurs,with quite a few using known tunes or story patterns.

  • Kidsparkx has a number of rhymes and some printables.

Here’s an example sung to: ” Hokey Pokey”

You put your claws incompsogn
You put your claws out
You put your claws in
scratch ’em all about
You do the Dino-Pokey and you turn yourself about.
That’s what it’s all about.

Additional Verse:
feet in/feet out/stomp them all about
teeth in/teeth out/chomp them all about
tail in/tail out/wag it all about

  •  Scholastic has an excellent  PDF download with 5 dinosaur rhymes, to mostly known tunes.Why not cut them out and put them on a ring so children can choose one to sing?
  • What about going on a “Dinosaur Hunt” instead of a bear hunt? This rhyme could be done orally,or with a felt board; either way  lots of actions, sounds and fun.Add more actions as you go along.

Dinosaur Hunt

I’m/We’re going on a dinosaur hunt. (Slap thighs)

And I’m not afraid. (Point to self)

There’s a tall mountain. (Look with hand over eyes)

Can’t go under it. (Move hand down)

Can’t go around it. (Move hand around)

Guess I’ll go over it. (Reach hands as if climbing)

There’s a river. (Hands over eyes)

Can’t go over it.

Can’t go under it

Guess I’ll swim across it. (Move arms as if swimming)

There’s some tall grass.

Can’t go over it

Can’t go around it

Guess I’ll go through it (Slap hands up and down in front)

styracosaurus

Styracosaurus

There’s a cave!

Can’t go over it

Can’t go under it.

Guess I’ll go in it

It’s dark and spooky in here (shake)

It’s cold in here! (Wrap arms around self and shiver)

I feel some scales (pretend to rub something)

I feel some big teeth! (Pretend to touch something)

OH! IT’S A DINOSAUR! (Scream)

Run out of the cave (slap thighs)

Go through the grass

Swim across the river

Climb the mountain

Run home (slap thighs)

Open the door

Jump into bed. (cover head with arms as if hiding under a blanket)

I went on a dinosaur hunt

And I wasn’t afraid!

(These Fingerplays are posted with permission.They are Dinosaur Unit Study excerpts from the Unit Study Coffee Table E-mailNewsletter.) http://www.brybackmanor.org/dinosaurs/dinofingerplays.html

Storytimes and Felt Boards

Flannel Friday has a whole Pinterest board on felt board dinosaur rhymes

Flannel Friday Pinterest Board Dinosaurs

Follow this Pinterest link from Mel’s Desk for  downloadable dinosaur shapes for felt boards. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/86694361548242402/

She has a whole story time session on dinosaurs here 

You could add  Dinosaur Rocket to the stories and maybe make a rocket, bus, moon,earth and sea to tell the story another way.

Sparklebox Downloadable activities.

In their dinosaur section find play dough mats and role play masks (Activities tab).

Posters, word mats and more are in the Topic tab.

100 Stories Before School booklist (here)

  •  Harry and the Dinosaurs series, Ian Whybrow, illustrated by Adrian Reynolds. Puffin USA9780140569803 HARRY AND THE BUCKETFUL OF DINOSAURS

Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs. Harry is a little boy with a BIG imagination and he takes his dinosaurs with him everywhere he goes. But one day, he leaves them on the train!

  • Penny Dale storyBoy on the Bus

The Boy on the Bus, Walker Books.

The boy on the bus drives round and round, round and round, but who wants to ride on his bus? Ducks. Pigs. A horse. Who else? A host of more noisy animal passengers! So jump on board the bus and get ready to join in and sing-along with this energetic nursery song. Ding-ding! Off we go!

Videos.

There are heaps of dinosaur videos online, but some of them are not suitable for younger children.

This one seems better for a younger age group, even if you just watch the first section.It is quite long, so check it out first before you show it to kids.

“See CUTE dinosaur babies born and watch take their first clumsy steps. Little tiny Brontosaurus babies run around their family herd triceratops teens play in a field. See FUNNY dinosaur falls and GROSS dinosaur sneezes. Watch a prehistoric squirrel outsmart the dinosaurs chasing him. Have FUN watching dinosaurs DANCE!” ( YouTube description.)

Dinosaurs Out and About.

Museums are a wonderful way for children to understand the size and shape of dinosaurs.The following places are Australian only.

  • The Australian Museum, Sydney has a permanent exhibition “See, hear, touch and even smell the world of dinosaurs.”Learn about Australian dinosaurs as well as other dinosaurs.They have events for Preschool children on their website.The Australian Museum is open 9.30am to 5.00pm every day except Christmas Day. Location and map    http://australianmuseum.net.au/event/Dinosaurs
  •  Did you know Australia has a National Dinosaur museum?
    Australian National Dinosaur Museum

    Australian National Dinosaur Museum.On the corner of Gold Creek Road and Barton Highway,NICHOLLS, ACT.

    “Starting from humble beginnings in 1993, the museum has grown from just a small collection to housing the largest permanent display of dinosaur and other prehistoric fossil material in Australia.

    With 23 complete skeletons, and over 300 displays of individual fossils, the museum continues to grow and expand our collection and our depth of information.” Get the feel from this family video.

  • Melbourne Museum( Victoria) has a Dinosaur Walk exhibition and “prehistoric fun”activities to do online.“The Dinosaur Walk exhibition at Melbourne Museum brings dinosaurs and other ancient animals to life. Take a range of amazing skeletons: dinosaurs, pterosaurs and megafauna. Combine them with ideas from science.  Add a little of your own imagination — and watch out!  Duck beneath the belly of a massive Mamenchisaurus and contemplate the speed of the small and agile Hypsilophodon. Walk up high to where the flying reptiles soar and imagine Quetzalcoatlus swooping for prey.”  ( wording from the Victoria Museum website).

    Dinosaur cakes

    Image from http://georgieskitchentable.blogspot.com.au/2007/08/two-candles-on-cake.html

    Image from http://georgieskitchentable.blogspot.com.au/2007/08/two-candles-on-cake.html

    Finally-where would we be without Dinosaur birthday cakes?

  • Pinterest– too many to describe!
  • How to make a dinosaur cake with cake mix video .Kids could help with this one.
  • For a really beautiful, but tricky Dorothy the Dinosaur ( Wiggles ) cake.