Dinosaurs

Dinosaur preschool lesson plans, including arts and crafts, games, math, science, group time activities, and songs.

Arts and Crafts

Dino Bones

Have the children make their own dinosaur by gluing pasta noodles to a piece of paper.

Dinosaur Sponge Painting

Supply the children with sponges of dinosaurs and paint and have them make a pre-historic scene with them.

Torn Paper Dino Pictures

Supply the children with a full sheet of white paper with a dinosaur shape drawn onto it and half a sheet of green paper. Ask them to make a dinosaur by tearing pieces of the green paper and gluing them onto the white paper.

Sticker Art

Supply the children with stickers of dinosaurs and have them place them on a piece of white paper to make a pre-historic scene.

Stamp Art

Supply the children with stamps of dinosaurs and have them make a pre-historic scene with the stamps.

Paint like a Dinosaur

Supply the children with paper and paint and have the children paint like a dinosaur might paint. You may want to have them put a pair of clean socks on their hands to help them imagine not having fingers to use.

Dinosaur Hand Prints

Place a rubber bank around the child’s ring and middle fingers tight enough to help keep them together but loose enough not to cut off circulation. Paint the child’s hand with a paintbrush in green, or green/grey paint. Have the child press their hand firmly onto a piece of paper. Viola, a dino handprint.

Games, Math, and Science

Play Dough Fossils

Many fossils were created by an animal or vegetation making an imprint on damp soil. This soil then hardened over time. Create fossils with play dough by allowing the children to press the dinosaurs’ feet into play dough. Compare the tracks left in the dough.

Cave Play

Place a blanket over a table to create a cave.

Search for Dinos

Place plastic dinosaur shapes on the sand table. Hide them from view. Have the children search for them.

Search for Fossils

Place pasta noodles on the sand table. Hide the pasta in the sand and ask the children to look for the dinosaur fossils (pasta).

Vote and Graph It

Have the children vote for their favorite dinosaur and graph the results. Which dino did most children like the best?

Would a Dinosaur Be a Good Pet?

Have the children vote if a dinosaur would be a good pet. Record the results on a graph. What is the result? Discuss with the children that a dinosaur would not be a good pet and the reasons why. Ex. they have claws, eat a lot of food, they don’t like humans, they might hurt us.

Dinosaur Shape Match Up

There are many ways to set this up depending on the skill level or the particular skill you wish to work on. Try these different setups:

Cut out dinosaur Shapes from different colors of paper. Give each child one dinosaur Shape. Ask the children to find one person with the same color dinosaur Shape.

Cut out dinosaur Shapes from different colors of paper. Cut the dinosaur Shapes in half using a puzzle-type cut, like zig zag or interlocking pieces. Give each child one half of a dinosaur Shape, and ask them to find the person with the other half. Or Give the children two pieces and have the children make a circle, with one child that has one match on one side and the other match on the other side. You may end up with 2 or more circles depending on how the dinosaur Shape pieces are distributed.

Cut out dinosaur Shapes from one color of paper. Cut the dinosaur Shapes in half using a puzzle-type cut, like zig zag or interlocking pieces. Give each child one half of a dinosaur Shape, and ask them to find the person with the other half. Or Give the children two pieces and have the children make a circle, with one child that has one match on one side and the other match on the other side. You may end up with 2 or more circles depending on how the dinosaur Shape pieces are distributed.

Cut the dinosaur Shapes from one color of paper. Label one set of dinosaur Shapes with numbers, i.e. if you have 20 children, label the dinosaur Shapes with the numbers one to ten. The other half, draw one dot on one, two on another, and so on until ten. Give each child one dinosaur Shape and have them find the child with their match.

Cut the dinosaur Shapes from one color of paper. Place matching stickers on two dinosaur Shapes. Give each child one dinosaur Shape and have them find the child with their match.

Cut the dinosaur Shapes from one color of paper. Cut the Dinosaur Shapes in half using a puzzle-type cut, like zig zag or interlocking pieces. Place matching stickers on each half of a dinosaur Shape. Give each child one dinosaur Shape half and have them find the child with their match.

Place matching dinosaur stickers on separate index cards. Give each child a card and ask them to find the child with their match.

Try all the above but in a file folder format. Glue one part of the dinosaur Shape to the file folder and laminate its match.

Cut four or five different dinosaur Shapes from different colors of paper. Give each child one dinosaur Shape and have them form groups depending on what color or what dinosaur they have.

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.

Dinosaur Hide-and-Seek

Have all the children hide their eyes while you “hide” a dinosaur in the room. (It should be placed in plain view) Tell the children to find the dinosaur, but not touch it. Once they spot it they should sit back down in their spot. The first one to sit down again will get to hide the dinosaur.

Dinosaur Hide-and-Seek 2

Play the game the same as above, except hide the dinosaur. Then tell the children individually whether they are “hot” or “cold” to the relation of the dinosaur. Allow the other children to have a chance to hide the dinosaur, and tell children whether they are “hot or cold”. It may be a good idea to discuss the meaning of hot and cold before you play this game.

Dinosaur Shape Fishing Game

Tie 3 feet of string to a wooden spoon. Attach a magnet to the end of the string. Cut and laminate many different colored dinosaur shapes from construction paper (not too big though). Attach a paper clip to each dinosaur shape. Spread the dinosaur shapes on the floor and let your child try to catch the dinosaur shape. Have them try to catch the biggest dinosaur or the red dinosaur. For a twist, label the dinosaur shapes with letters or numbers.

Dinosaur Games Note

The following games require you to cut out many different dinosaur shapes from construction paper. You may choose to laminate these dinosaur shapes so they last longer.

Dinosaur Sizing

Cut out many different-sized dinosaurs. Ask the children to line up the dinosaur from largest to smallest.

Dinosaur Numbers

Cut out ten shapes. Number them one to ten. Ask the children to line up the shapes from one to ten.

Dinosaur Colors

Ask the children to sort the shapes by color.

Dinosaur Sort

Supply the children with plenty of dinosaur shapes of many sizes and colors. Ask the children to sort the shapes by size, color, or type.

Ideas for Playing with Plastic Dinosaur Figures

Have the children sort the animals by size.

Have the children sort the animals by the kind they like the best to least.

Buy two or more sets and have the children sort the animals by type.

Supply the children with a balance and let them experiment.

Have the children count the animals.

Supply the children with cards with numbers on them. Large playing cards work well. Have the children place the appropriate number of animals on each card. Ie 4 animals on the card that has a 4 (or 4 of diamonds) on it.

Let the children play with the animals in the sand and water table.

Put the dinosaurs in the block area, encourage the children to create mountains with the blocks for the animals to live and play on.

Supply the children with paint and white paper, and give them a figure of a dinosaur. Have them dip the animals’ feet in the paint them press on the paper to make dinosaur tracks.

Lacing Cards

Cut colored poster board into dinosaur shapes and punch holes around the edges. Them let your child lace yarn or a shoestring into the cards.

Stamping Patterns

Use dinosaur rubber stamps to create a simple pattern on the top half of a piece of paper. Ask your child to help you recreate the pattern on the bottom half of the paper. Tip: Start with one stamp, and have your child pick which stamp you used. Start slowly and work your way up to more complicated patterns.

What time is it Mr. Dinosaur?

Played like What time is it, Mr. Fox?

Dinosaur Stomp

Play the “Bunny Hop” song and have the children pretend to be dinosaurs stomping around.

Dramatic Play

Puppets are always a great addition to any dramatic play area, add dinosaur puppets.

Group Time and Songs

Create a Jungle

Turn your room into a jungle by hanging leaves and branches from the ceiling. Children can paint real leaves in different colors.

Dino Clean Up

Cut four or five different dinosaur Shapes from different colors of paper. Laminate, punch a hole in the shape and create a necklace by threading yarn through the hole and tying. Make the necklace large enough to easily slip over the children’s heads. Give each child one dinosaur Shape and have them form groups depending on what color or what dinosaur they have. Then send the groups out to clean specific areas. Yellow dinosaurs clean up the house area, red cleans the blocks, etc.

Dinosaur Song

Dinosaur, Dinosaur,
Turn around.
Dinosaur, Dinosaur,
Touch the ground.
Dinosaur, Dinosaur,
Shine your shoes.
Dinosaur, Dinosaur, Skidoo. Dinosaur, Dinosaur,
Go upstairs.
Dinosaur, Dinosaur,
Say your prayers.
Dinosaur, Dinosaur,
Turn out the light.
Dinosaur, Dinosaur,
Say good night.

The Dinosaur Went Over the Mountain

Sung to “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”
The dinosaur went over the mountain,
The dinosaur went over the mountain,
The dinosaur went over the mountain,
To see what he could see

To see what he could see,
To see what he could see

The other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain,
Was all that he could see

Was all that he could see,
Was all that he could see,
The other side of the mountain,
Was all that he could see!