Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Weekly Theme: Diggin’ Dinosaurs
Art Center
Dino Bones
Provide dry pasta noodles for children to make their own dinosaur fossils by gluing pasta
noodles to a piece of paper in a dinosaur shape.
Dinosaur Sponge Painting
Supply the children with dinosaur-shaped sponges and paint or dinosaur stamps and stamp
pads and let them make a pre-historic scene with them.
Dino Sticker Art
Supply the children with stickers of dinosaurs and allow them to place them on a piece of white
paper to make a pre-historic scene.
Dinosaur Skeletons
Using craft sticks or pipe cleaners, children glue what they think or want a dinosaur skeleton to
look like.
Dinosaur Rubbings
Have stencils of dinosaurs available with paper and pencils or crayons.
Dino Scene Display
Tape butcher paper to wall. Using a black marking pen, draw large landscape objects, such as
palm trees, volcano, rocks, and water pool. Allow small groups of students to take turns coloring
or painting the mural. Let them add 3-D fronds to the palm trees. Using available art supplies
such as yarn, tissue paper, cotton, cellophane- ask students to create foliage such as ferns,
grass, wet areas, and volcanic smoke. Use this display as the focal point for the Dinosaur
theme.
Board Game Center
Dinosaurs Match Me Game (Edu-Play)
Din-o-poly: (Edu-Play)
Dino Dominoes (Brame)
Dinosaurs, Extinct? Game (Edu-Play, Brame)
Dino Math Tracks Game (Kaplan)
Building/Manipulatives Center
Build a Dino: Using blocks or LEGO® bricks, build a dinosaur or a prehistoric scene.
Build a Dino House: Using blocks or LEGO® bricks, build a house for a pet dinosaur.
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Guilford County Schools ACES Program
CATCH Kids® Games
Leapin Lizards #125 (Call it Leaping Lambeosaurus)
Dragon Tails #16 (Call it Dino Tails)
Computer Center/Computer Lab
Dinosaur Activity Center - http://funschool.kaboose.com/time-warp/dinosaurs/
Tons of Dino Games! - http://www.dinofun.com/
Barney and Friends - http://pbskids.org/barney/
The Last Dinosaur - http://www.net-games.biz/online-games/The-Last-Dinosaur.html
Download a Dinosaur - http://www.rain.org/~philfear/download-a-dinosaur.html
Dinosaur Activities and Games - http://www.kidsdinos.com/dinosaur-games/index.php
Dramatic Play Center
Add dinosaur masks to the home living area and dinosaur puppets to the puppet theater area.
Cave Play
Place a blanket over a table to create a cave for the dinosaurs.
Dinosaur Habitat: Set up a dinosaur dramatic play area with boxes painted to look like rocks
and set out lots of artificial plants.
Dinosaur Egg Hunt: Children can hide plastic eggs and take turns being Tyrannosaurus Rex
looking for dino eggs.
Dinosaur Finger Play
One Dinosaur Went Out to Play...
(Sung to: Five Little Ducks Went out to Play...)
One Dinosaur went out to play
Out on a spider's web one day
He had such enormous fun (use arms to show enormous)
That he called for another dinosaur to come
Hey Di-no-saur!!!! (yell very loudly)
Two dinosaurs went out to play
Out on a spider's web one day
They had such enormous fun
That they called for another dinosaur to come
Hey Di-no-saur!!!!!
Continue with three dinosaurs, etc.
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Guilford County Schools ACES Program
The Dinosaurs
The dinosaurs lived long ago, when life on earth began.
(gesture palm up wave over your shoulder)
Some were tall (gesture high).
Some were small (gesture low).
Some liked water (gesture swimming).
Some liked land (gesture walking by alternating palms on your knees).
Pteranadons had leathery wings (gesture flying).
Brontausaurs had long necks (gesture to neck).
But the meanest dinosaur of all (gesture mean face).
Was Tyranosaurus Rex (gesture heavy stomping by alternating palms on your knees)
There Once Was a Mighty Dinosaur
Stand with head high
Once a mighty dinosaur
Sit down wearily
Sat down upon the jungle floor.
Put head on chest
He died, he did, without a name,
Boo hoo!
And no one cried. (Oh, what a shame!)
Move hands together from left to right
Then, many, many years went by.
Point to self from head to toe
The bones he left lay old and dry.
Dig, dig
They dug, they did, some time ago,
Point to self
And found his bones: that's how I know.
Show roof of big building
Now, somewhere in a big museum,
Stretch out arms
If you go there, you can see 'em:
Point left and right
Hundreds! Thousands! Maybe more!
Stand tall with head high
Enough to make a dinosaur!
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Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Gross Motor Center
Dinosaurs
Spread your arms, way out wide,
Fly like a Pteranodon, soar and glide.
Bend to the floor, head down low,
Move like Stegosaurus, long ago.
Reach up tall, try to be
As tall as Apatosaurus eating on a tree.
Using your claws, grumble and growl
Just like Tyrannosaurus on the prowl.
Dinosaur Shape Hop
Cut out large dinosaur shapes from colored paper. Laminate them and cut them out. Place them
on the floor and ask the children to hop from one shape to another. These may also be used at
seat markers for group time.
Ring the Dinosaur
Use blow up dinosaurs and ring them with rings from the ring toss set or make rings from
cardboard.
Dino-Dino Where's Your Bone?
(played like Doggie doggie, where’s your bone?)
Need: a cut out shape of a bone or a large rawhide dog bone
All children sit cross legged on the floor. One person is IT and hides his/her eyes. The dinosaur
bone is hidden under a child. All children chant: “Dino-Dino, where's your bone? A
paleontologist took it home.” The person who is IT then guesses who is sitting on the bone.
KidzLit®
(K-3) The Relatives Came, A Chair for My Mother
(3-5) The Barn
Listening Center
Patrick's Dinosaurs Carry Along Book & Cassette (Bender, EduPlay),
Curious George's Dinosaur Discovery Carry Along Book & CD (Bender, EduPlay)
My Visit To The Dinosaurs Book/Cassette (Kaplan)
Dinosaurs Are Different Book/Cassette (Kaplan)
Digging Up Dinosaurs Book/Cassette (Kaplan)
Music Center
Dinosaur Stomp
Play the bunny hop song and have the children pretend to be dinosaurs stomping around.
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Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Walk the Dinosaur
Use the song “Walk the Dinosaur” from the Flintstones Soundtrack CD to allow students to do
the dinosaur dance.
Most Amazing Dinosaur Songs
This CD has some great songs on it including the Hokey Pokeysaurus
claws in/claws out/scratch 'em all about
feet in/feet out/stomp them all about
teeth in/teeth out/chomp them all about
tail in/tail out/wag it all about
DINOSAURS, DINOSAURS
(Sung to: Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Turn Around)
Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, stomped around.
Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, shook the ground.
Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, some gave fear.
Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, we wish you were here.
ALL AROUND THE SWAMP
(Tune: "Wheels on the Bus")
The Pteranodon's wings went flap, flap, flap,
flap, flap, flap,
flap, flap, flap,
The Pteranodon's wings went flap, flap, flap,
All around the swamp.
The Tyrannosaurs Rex went grrr, grrr, grrr,
grrr, grrr, grrr,
grrr, grrr, grrr,
The Tyrannosaurs Rex went grrr, grrr, grrr,
All around the swamp.
The Triceratop's horns went poke, poke, poke,
poke, poke, poke,
poke, poke, poke,
The Tricearatop's horns went poke, poke, poke,
All around the swamp.
The Brontosaurus went munch, munch, munch,
munch, munch, munch,
munch, munch, munch,
The Brontosaurus went munch, munch, munch,
All around the swamp
The Stegosaurus tail went spike, spike, spike,
spike, spike, spike,
spike, spike, spike,
The Stegosaurus tail went spike, spike, spike,
All around the swamp
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Guilford County Schools ACES Program
I'm Bringing Home A Baby Dinosaur
I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur
Won't my mommy fall right through the floor
I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur
Ouch! He squished me!
Flat as a pancake!
I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur
Won't my mommy hide behind the door
I'm bringing home a baby dinosaur
Tromp! Tromp! Tromp! Tromp!
Reading Center
K-3
Can I Have A Stegasaurus Mom? Can I? Please? by Lois Grambling
Archie the Ugly Dinosaur by M. Christina Butler
Dinosaurs by Gail Gibbons
Dazzle the Dinosaur - Marcus Pfister
Little Grunt and The Big Egg - Tomie dePaola
3-5
Dinosaur Hunter - Elaine Marie Alphin and Don Bolognese
The Dinosaur Egg Mystery - Val Biro
Danny And The Dinosaur - Syd Hoff
Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs after Dark by Mary Pope Osborne
Riddles
Q: Which dinosaur could jump higher than a tree?
A: All of them! Trees can't jump!
Q: What's green and goes slam, slam, slam, slam?
A: A four-door dinosaur!
Q: How do you keep a dinosaur from charging?
A: Take away its credit card!
Q: How many fresh eggs can a Tyrannosaurus eat on an empty stomach?
A: Just one- after that his stomach is no longer empty!
Q: How did the dinosaur cowboy feel after a hard day on the range?
A: Saddle-Saurus!
Q: What do you get when dinosaurs crash their cars?
A: Tyrannosaurus Wrecks!
Q: How did the demolition workers blow up rocks?
A: With dino-mite!
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Guilford County Schools ACES Program
Q: What do you call a dinosaur who left his armor out in the rain?
A: A Stegosau-rust!
Q: What do you call a giant dentist with scaly skin and a long tail?
A: An orthodontosaurus!
Science and Nature Center
Dinosaur Dig
Fill a small tub with sand and hide plastic dinosaurs in the sand. Students can use plastic
spoons and paint brushes to excavate the dinosaurs or you can use dinosaur skeletons
(Oriental Trading)
Dinosaur Fossils
Press dinosaur skeletons in clay and allow to dry to make your own fossils.
Dinosaur Garden
Based on the book: Dinosaur Garden by Liza Donnelly.
To make a terrarium: plant seeds in an aquarium; add rocks, miniature dinosaurs and a pool
(using a small tin foil plate); cover the top with plastic; and watch a prehistoric jungle grow.
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