Dinosaurs

     This week, we began our look at Dinosaurs. The books we used for our theme included Dinosaurs from "A Child's First Library" series and I Dreamt I Was A Dinosaur by Stella Blackstone and Clare Beaton. One of our favorite activities included natural and other materials that were in our sensory table. Many different dinosaur "habitats" were created.

We explored volcanoes through our books as well as with a simple science project. We used non=hardening clay to wrap around our snack cups. In the cup, we used a coupe of scoops of baking soda, red food coloring, a drop of Dawn dish soap and 1/4 cup of vinegar.

We also explored fossils by creating our own with a simple salt clay recipe. The children shaped the dough and then pressed their dinosaur in the dough to make an indentation. We baked the dough at 250 degrees for up to 3 hours to harden our "fossils".

The light table had a lot of activity this week. Every time somebody asked if they could lay with the light table, we had at least 2-3 children creating together. The results were absolutely beautiful and the creativity of the children seemed endless this week.

Another sensory activity included dinosaurs, eggs and fossils in colored rice.

Our art projects included making dinosaur tracks and making dinosaur imprints in play dough. We also referred to a video I will post at the end that taught us how to name our own dinosaur. The children drew their own dinosaur and chose their own names.

Through our books, we learned about Paleontology and learned how to classify dinosaurs as either herbivores or carnivores.

We finally had nice weather at the end of the week so the children spent large chunks of time outdoors. I know we will be doing the same next week as we continue our look at dinosaurs. I will leave you with the video we watched as inspiration for our dinosaur names.

Animal Babies and More

We began our week with a look at Hippo facts from this site. We also also used the following book online to learn more about animal families. The resources we used this week were part of a unit plan from 1 + 1 + 1 = 1.

The emergent reader we made also came form this tot pack. The children were able to color or use a piece of construction paper as a cover for their book. We compared how animals took care of their babies with our own parents.

We began the week with a memory game in our sensory table.

Other sensory and light table activities dealt with feeding animal babies. Animals were added to the sensory table and fish were used at the light table along with the gems and other light table items.

We had a chance to explore the size of an elephant's foot and graphed how many of our own feet were needed to get across the foot.

Our art and play dough activities focused on animal and insect tracks of all sizes.

Our outdoor activities included catching snowflakes as inspired by Teach Preschool and making large snow ball "bricks" for a fort.

Craft activities included bead work and braiding pipe cleaners to make jewelry and bracelets. These exercises develop small motor skills.

Color was explored by looking at designs through our color paddles at the light table.

We also used a foam presentation board as a ramp for our new vehicles. These vehicles were also used in our sensory table to deliver food to the animals and to make tracks in the play dough.

The children also continued to enjoy creating lists and taking "surveys" with paper and clip boards. This remains one of our favorite activities.

Next week, we will explore dinosaurs. Here is a video of one of our favorite Laurie Berkner songs about dinosaurs. Have a great week!