Theme and activities
Educational activity planning by theme: games, crafts, coloring pages, stories, songs & rhymes, and printable activity sheets.
Turnkey concept which offers complete activities to promote the development of children as well as professional printable documents to accompany them.
What the club has to offer
This portion of the day is ideal for getting children up and moving. Tell them, "You are inside a dinosaur egg." (Children curl up as tightly as they can). "You are moving around to crack the egg." (Children wiggle around but remain curled up). "Poke your head out of the egg." (Children raise their heads and upper bodies). "The dinosaur is growing." (Children stretch and return to standing positions). Ask children what kind of dinosaur they were mimicking. To guide you in your discussions about dinosaurs, we have prepared a simple game to explain, with pictures, the difference between herbivores and carnivores. (Open dinosaur diet) Print, laminate and attach Velcro to the pictures. Have children associate the pictograms to the correct card.
Cut out the different dinosaur tracks. (Open dinosaur tracks and dinosaurs) Glue the tracks on the floor to create a path. Have children follow identical tracks to discover which dinosaur they belong to. Be sure to glue the corresponding dinosaurs at the end of each path. Paths can lead to the bathroom, to the sink, etc.
Arts & Crafts:
Hunt and seek
Dinosaur memory game
Miniature Jurassic Park
3 cups of Chinese noodles
Use oval-shaped candy to represent the eggs.
Method for nests:
Lightly crush the noodles, reserve. Melt the chocolate chips and the butter in a casserole over low heat or in the microwave. Add the noodles. Combine until all the noodles are coated with chocolate. Using a spoon, deposit small quantities of the mixture onto waxed paper. Delicately arrange candy in the center of the nests. Let stand until the chocolate has hardened once again. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes 30 nests.
ARTS & CRAFTS
My little dinosaur
Children recreate the story in chronological order.
SONGS & RHYMES
Dinosaurs all around
There are dinosaurs stomping all around, there are dinosaurs stomping all around
There are dinosaurs flying all around, there are dinosaurs flying all around
There are dinosaurs swimming all around, there are dinosaurs swimming all around
There are dinosaurs swimming all around
They lived long ago, they lived long ago
SUGGESTION OF THE WEEK
Joanne Arsenault carries us into the marvelous world of dinosaurs.
This week, children become paleontologists (person who studies dinosaur bones and fossils).
The hunt is on for dinosaur footprints
Supplies: Sandbox, plastic dog bones, salt shaker filled with flour
Hide the plastic dog bones in the sandbox. Provide children with a paintbrush to remove the dust (sand) and a magnifying glass to examine the bones they find.
Children make impressions in modeling clay with plastic dinosaurs. Allow children to sprinkle the tracks the dinosaurs left behind with the salt shaker filled with flour. With their paintbrushes and magnifying glasses, they remove the flour to discover fossils.
What a funny egg
Supplies: Oval-shaped balloon, hard boiled egg with shell
Show children the difference between the two objects (size). Explain that dinosaur eggs were much bigger than the balloon and that, with the largest dinosaur egg, we could have made an omelet for 35 people.
A silly egg puzzle
Trace the shape of a fairly large egg on white construction paper. Draw lines to divide the egg into four puzzle pieces. Using markers or crayons, children color their eggs, cut out the contour, and then cut on the lines drawn inside the egg. Have them enjoy their puzzle by then reconstructing it on a piece of colored construction paper of their choice.
Have a dinosaur egg hunt.
Cut out several eggs of the same size in construction paper of different colors. You must have 2 red eggs, 2 orange eggs, 2 blue eggs, etc... Hide one egg of each color in the daycare (on walls, on the floor, on large toys, etc.). Place the second egg of each color in a bag or box decorated for the theme. Children each pick one egg and search for the other egg of the same color. You may try the same game with eggs of different sizes, yet still the same color.
Supplies: books about dinosaurs
Study the dinosaur books with the children. Ask them questions. What did dinosaurs eat? Some dinosaurs were herbivores and ate only plants, fruit, and flowers. Other dinosaurs were carnivores and ate insects, eggs, reptiles, and mammals.
Were dinosaurs small or big?
The smallest dinosaur was 1 meter long and weighed 3.5 kg. It was the compsognathus. The dryosaurus was 3 to 4 meters long, the nodosaurus was 5.5 meters long, the triceratops was 9 meters long and 3 meters high, the tyrannosaurus was 14 meters long, and the mamenchisaurus was 22 meters long. The longest dinosaur was the diplodocus. He measured 23 meters long. The tallest dinosaur was the brachiosaurus which was 15 meters high. Dinosaurs were as long as a house, sometimes even two or three houses or as long as the entire street. Did all dinosaurs look the same? Use books to show the differences. There were dinosaurs with horns and large ears such as the triceratops, dinosaurs with a ring around their heads such as the dilophosaurus, and dinosaurs with small heads but very long necks such as the brachiosaurus.
Trace a large dinosaur model twice onto a paper grocery bag for each child. Children cut out their two dinosaurs. Place the two dinosaurs one on top of the other and staple the contour, leaving a space to stuff the dinosaurs' stomach with tissues. Once stuffed, staple completely closed. Children paint their dinosaurs as they wish.
Our dinosaur park
Supplies: Sandbox, rocks, plastic miniature trees, plastic dinosaurs, empty tissue box cut in two (to create caves), broken egg shells which have been washed, modeling clay to shape tiny dinosaurs which can be inserted into plastic eggs, small plastic containers to make ponds or lakes.
Collective project: Our dinosaur park
Make materials readily available for the children. Allow them to create their dinosaur park as they imagine it.
Steps - Following the beat of a drum, children take giant steps or tiny mouse steps. When the drum plays loudly, they must take giant steps, and when it plays softly they must take tiny mouse steps. Children respect the rhythm. Once they are used to the game, choose a child to play the drum.
A prehistoric animal
Supplies: Different types of fruit
Lay different types of fruit, a plate, and a plastic knife and fork on the table. Ideal fruits are bananas, strawberries, oranges, cut pineapple pieces, and melon. Use them to make a model dinosaur. To create the body, you may use a slice of melon. Use banana pieces to make the legs. Cut strawberries into triangular shapes to represent the points on the dinosaur's back. Make a tail out of a piece of pineapple and a head out of a slice of orange, etc.
Children use fruit pieces to make their own dinosaur-shaped snacks. Close the week with a "Barney" movie.
Have a great week!
Have nice day!